NCCU now : a magazine for the faculty, alumni, and friends of North Carolina Central University

NOW c e n t e n n i a l e d i t i o n NCCU
A partnership with
NASA takes NCCU
to new heights
A magazine for the Faculty, Alumni, and Friends
of North Carolina Central University
SUMMER 2010
the
Heart and Soul
of NCCU
26
30
Sports
News
12
Redefining what
it means to be an
HBCU in 2010
34
3
8
12
19
21
26
30
34
38
40
43
46 Gifts to the University
The Shepard Legacy
Charter Day Opens Year
of Centennial Celebrations
Sports: Did You Know?
Defining Success
Campus News
NCCU & NASA
Marching Sound Machine
— Heart and Soul
HBCU Reconstruction
Building the Community
Exceeding Expectations
Class Notes
ON THE COVER
The Hoey Administration Building,
circa 1950s on the left and
present day on the right
Contents
Now Magazine 1
2 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Contributors
Chancellor
Charlie Nelms
Vice Chancellor of
Institutional Advancement
LaTanya D. Afolayan
Editorial
Cynthia Fobert
Robert L. Waters
Class Notes
Anita B. Walton
Sports Editor
Kyle Serba
Photography and Illustration
Robert Lawson
Brian Culbreath
University Archives
Writers
Paul Brown
Brian Culbreath
Cynthia Fobert
Dr. Kimberly Moore
Charlie Nelms
Kyle Serba
Anita Walton
Chantal Winston
Myra Wooten
Design and Layout
Brian Culbreath
NCCU Now magazine is published by North
Carolina Central University Office of Public
Relations, 1801 Fayetteville Street, Durham,
NC 27707. Phone: (919) 530-6295 E-mail:
<publicrelations@nccu.edu> Please send address
corrections to the Alumni Relations Office,
2223 Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC 27707.
Persons or corporations interested in purchasing
advertising space in the NCCU Now magazine
should contact Cynthia Fobert, director of
Public Relations, <cfobert@nccu.edu>.
At a cost of $0.91 each, 25,000 copies of this
public document were printed for a total of
$22,752.64 in Spring 2010.
NCCU is accredited by the Commission on
Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools to award baccalaureate, master’s,
education specialist, and doctoral degrees.
Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866
Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097
or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the
accreditation of NCCU.
Copyright 2010, North Carolina Central
University.
Letter from the Chancellor
Dear Alumni and Friends:
Welcome to the Centennial Edition of the NCCU NOW.
During this Centennial Year, beginning with Charter Day last June
30, we’ve held art exhibits by artists Ruth Russell Williams, James
Biggers, Ernie Barnes, and photo-journalist Alex Rivera. We’ve
heard lectures from authors Michele Bowen, Hill Harper, Patricia
Russell-McCloud, Ben Carson, Steve Perry, and Rebecca Skloot.
And now, we’re looking forward to Tom Joyner as speaker for our
Centennial Commencement on May 15.
In our Centennial Year, U.S. News & World Report ranked NCCU the
best public HBCU in the country and for the second year in a row,
our Law School was ranked the No. 1 Best Value Law School in the
Nation based on affordability, bar passage rate and job placement.
And of course, the Alumni Association plays a vital role in this
success. The Southern Regional Education Board report released
April 14, included NCCU among a select group of 15 institutions
across the country that evidenced best practices in achieving
student success. In part, they attribute our achievement to the
fact that NCCU alumni “serve on advisory committees, speak to
classes, are involved in student activities, provide part-time jobs,
and connect students with community service opportunities. They
serve as role models for degree completion — the clear sign of
success for both the university and its students.”
These are some of the ways that alumni, friends and retirees can be
of immeasurable service to the university and to the future graduates
of NCCU. I am proud to be among you and NCCU is proud of
you.
Enjoy this complimentary edition of the alumni magazine.
Sincerely,
Charlie Nelms
Chancellor
Now Magazine 3
The By Paul V. Brown Jr. Shepard
Legacy
f James Edward Shepard’s
statue in front of Hoey
Administration Building could
somehow come to life and
creak its metal neck southward, the
university founder would enjoy the
sight of a public school that bears his
name, the Shepard Magnet Middle
School. And if he wheeled just a bit to
the right, he would see W.G. Pearson
Elementary School. He’d recognize
the name: William Gaston Pearson
helped Shepard incorporate his
college in 1909 (it opened for classes
the next year), sat on the college’s
board of directors for many years and
was Shepard’s partner in a host of
other academic and civic projects.
If the gray-hued head could tilt
skyward at night, Shepard might
catch sight of a space shuttle passing
overhead. Physics students and
professors at the school that the
visionary educator and religious
and civic leader founded a century
ago are helping NASA expand the
boundaries of space exploration.
That’s not all. Graduates of what first
was named the National Religious
Training School and Chautauqua
have become doctors, nurses and
college professors. Shepard’s school
has launched noteworthy performers,
artists and athletes. Political leaders,
judges and prominent lawyers got
their start in the legal profession at
North Carolina Central University.
Scholars and administrators con-nected
to the university have advised
U.S. presidents.
I
“By every account, Dr. Shepard set his
sights astronomically high for the school
and its students when he planned the
National Religious School,” said Charlie
Nelms, chancellor of NCCU. “But it’s
hard to overstate how much of an impact
the school has had on the advancement of
Durham and North Carolina, the nation
and in many respects, the entire globe.”
If students are the measure of a university
— and they must be — North Carolina
Central University is a clear success. Says
one of Nelms’ predecessors, noted civil rights
lawyer and alumnus Julius Chambers (’58),
“If you look at it [NCCU] in the fashion of
how it has provided an opportunity for
minorities to get a college degree, and
how it has attracted students based on
its reputation, that’s one important
impact. It has been long known as a
quality institution, a university that
prepares one to go out into the world
and make a difference.”
The school shares some key features
with other historically African-
American schools in the nation. Dr.
Frank W. Hale Jr., professor emeritus
at The Ohio State University and
author of “How Black Colleges
Empower Black Students: Lessons for
Higher Education,” notes that NCCU
was closely connected with the black
community in which it was situated.
Its professors and administrators
offered “very valuable role models”
to its young students. Its admission
policies were more flexible, and
administrators were more willing to
look at “quality” factors — leadership
in high school, or whether a youngster
had to work outside the home — in addition
to “quantity” factors such as college exam
scores. The result: African-Americans had a
better chance of pursuing a college degree.
Shepard’s school had an immediate impact
on its community, in large part because of
Shepard himself. His own influence, in fact,
extended far beyond the tobacco-scented
streets of Durham.
Shepard was born in Raleigh in 1875,
the eldest of 12 children of a noted
Baptist pastor. He received a degree in
pharmacy from Shaw University in 1894
and soon began practicing the profession
in Durham. At just 30 years old, he took
a position with the International Sunday
School Association that sent him traveling
across the nation and the world in support
of a standardized Christian education
curriculum across denominational lines. In
1910, he was the only African-American
speaker at the World Sunday School
Convention in Rome.
That experience and the Chautauqua
movement — the large gatherings, usually
in rural communities in summer, for
education and cultural experiences in camp-like
settings �� helped mold Shepard’s ideas
for his college. He raised the funds to open
the school from contributors in and outside
of North Carolina.
The school is Shepard’s best-known public
contribution, but by no means his only
one. Even before the school opened, he
had helped launch two enduring Durham
institutions: North Carolina Mutual Life
Insurance Co., founded in 1898; and
Mechanics & Farmers Bank, opened in
1908. Mutual grew into the largest black-owned
insurance company in the world.
And Mechanics & Farmers played a key
role in the finances of African-American
families and businesses in an era when
minorities found it all but impossible to
obtain loans from white-owned banks.
Shepard also had a hand in the formation of
the Durham Committee on the Affairs of
Black People, one of the most potent local
political organizations in the Southeast.
Over time, Durham evolved into a more
hospitable place for African-Americans to
live than most other Southern cities, in no
small part because of the role of NCCU,
the financial institutions, the Durham
Committee and the efforts of black leaders.
A business district along downtown Parrish
Street was known widely as “the Black Wall
Street.” And the college functioned as a
kind of assembly line that could turn poor,
rural youngsters into educated members of
the black middle class, and in turn, move
members of the middle class into upper
economic classes.
Shepard, whose philosophy of black
advancement was more aligned with
the moderate views of W.E.B. DuBois
than with the more radical voices of
the era, was a sought-after speaker. He
commented on important topics of the
day on statewide and national radio
programs. He was asked to testify on
tax policy before the Ways and Means
Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1943. The following
year, his article “The Challenge Of The
South” ran in Negro Digest magazine
alongside articles penned by DuBois
and actor Orson Welles.
World War I diverted precious
resources and contributions from the
school. In need of funding, Shepard
was able to gain state support for the
school in 1923, and two years later,
it was renamed the North Carolina
College for Negroes. The state funding
was a long-sought goal of Shepard’s; he
was a staunch fighter for government
support of African-American
education. In 1972, NCCU became
one of the 16 constituent campuses of the
University of North Carolina system.
Throughout its history, the school played an
outsized role in the academic and cultural
life of Durham, and of the African-
American community in particular.
Important leaders, scholars and performers
visited the campus. Vivian (Spence Guice)
Hunter, who received her Bachelor of
Science in commerce in 1943, remembers
a performance by Marian Anderson, the
world-renowned opera singer. W.E.B.
DuBois and Mary McLeod Bethune,
giants in the early civil rights struggle, also
came to the Durham campus.
4 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Now Magazine 5
If students are the
measure of a university
— and they must be —
North Carolina Central
University is a clear
success.
6 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph
was a guest in Dr. Shepard’s home, built
across Fayetteville Street from the school.
So was first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The
first commencement speaker, in 1911, was
Wendell P. Stafford, an associate justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court. Two decades later,
the chief justice of the North Carolina
Supreme Court, H.P. Stacy, delivered the
graduation keynote.
NCCU “was an oasis for the black
intelligentsia,” said Dr. Leonard L.
Haynes III, executive director of the
White House Initiative on Historically
Black Colleges and Universities from
2007 to 2009 and now senior advisor in
the office of the assistant secretary for
post-secondary education.
NCCU’s economic impact, on Durham
and the state, is substantial and growing. A
recent report by the City of Durham noted
that the university employed nearly 1,500
people and pumped nearly $60 million
a year in payroll alone into the region’s
economy. The school’s near-term building
plans amounted to more than $212 million,
another massive injection into the area’s
jobs and retail fortunes. Research grants
and funded projects added approximately
$68 million to the tally. Then there are the
8,500 students in NCCU degree programs;
they bring their own spending to Durham’s
stores, supermarkets, gas stations and
restaurants.
By mid-century, NCCU was producing
luminaries of its own. Julius Chambers,
after graduating with a B.A. in history
in 1958, went on to earn a law degree at
UNC-Chapel Hill and became one of
the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers,
successfully litigating a number of key cases
before the U.S. Supreme Court. John Hope
Franklin, the late historian and author of
From Slavery to Freedom, a groundbreaking
work on African-American history, taught
at NCCU and at a number of other HBCU
and mainline universities. He exported
NCCU’s expertise, too, teaching students in
England, China and Australia. He headed
President Bill Clinton’s task force on race
in the late 1990s.
A contemporary of Franklin’s, Dr. Helen
G. Edmonds, lectured at 87 American
colleges and universities, and in institutions
in Sweden, Germany and Liberia. In 1957,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed
her as his representative to the dedication
of the new capital building in Monrovia,
Liberia. She made a lesser-known visit
to the White House two decades later, as
President Gerald Ford revealed in a speech
on the NCCU campus in November 1975.
“Dr. Edmonds met with me shortly after I
assumed the presidency and eloquently told
me some of the concerns and aspirations
of blacks and of women,” Ford said. “As
President of all the people, these concerns
are my concerns. These aspirations are my
aspirations.”
The late Ivan Dixon (Drama, ’54), though
best known for his role in the sitcom
“Hogan’s Heroes,” was also a director and
producer, and served as president of Negro
Actors for Action, a civil rights group.
Dr. Leroy Walker, a track coach at NCCU
and later its chancellor (he also chaired
the Physical Education and Recreation
Department), was the first black U.S.
Olympics Committee president. He led
NCCU track and field athletes to a series
of Olympic appearances. Less known is
that he also coached teams from Israel,
Ethiopia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica
and Kenya.
Alumni Eva Clayton (M.A., ’63) and
G.K. Butterfield (Law, ’74) have gone to
Washington as representatives of North
Carolina’s First Congressional District.
Dan Blue Jr. (math, ’70) was Speaker of the
N.C. House of Representatives from 1991
to 1994, the first African-American to hold
that position. After serving 22 years in that
body, he now represents Wake County in
the State Senate. Mike Easley, a graduate
of NCCU’s School of Law, was North
Carolina’s attorney general in the 1990s
and governor from 2001 to 2009.
One hundred years after the founding of
the National Religious Training School
and Chautauqua, Shepard’s institution is a
full-grown university, exerting its impact on
Durham, the state and the world on a vastly
greater scale. Its science and biomedical
programs, for example, produce cutting-edge
research. Its Institute for Homeland
Security and Workforce Development,
created after the 9/11 attacks, helps educate
emergency workers and the public about
homeland security and disaster preparedness.
NCCU’s international studies and exchange
programs attract students from more than
a dozen countries, including India, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, Nepal, China, the Czech
Republic, Nigeria, South Korea, Russia, the
Dominican Republic, Mexico and South
Africa.
Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook has a particularly
good perch from which to judge NCCU’s
impact over the years. Before serving as
president of Dillard University in New
Orleans from 1974 to 1997, Cook spent
part of his early career — from 1966 until
1974 — teaching political science at Duke
University.
“I remember when it was North Carolina
College for Negroes, officially,” Cook
recalled in an interview. “North Carolina
Central University over the years has been
one of our flagship institutions. Without
question. And one of the best, top-flight
institutions under the supervision and
control of black people. Of the public ones,
perhaps at the top.”
To Cook, that is extraordinary in light of
the obstacles faced by Shepard and his early
successors.
“It obviously didn’t have the resources of
a UNC or an N.C. State,” he said. “It had
to operate, as Dr. Shepard would say, with
short grass. But how it operated on the
short grass was miraculous.”
“One hundred years after the founding of the National
Religious Training School and Chautauqua, Shepard’s
institution is a full-grown university, exerting its
impact on Durham, the state and the world on a
vastly greater scale.”
Now Magazine 7
“It obviously didn’t have
the resources of a UNC or
an N.C. State. It had to
operate, as Dr. Shepard
would say, with short
grass. But how it operated
on the short grass was
miraculous.”
– Samuel DuBois Cook
NCCU inaugurated its Centennial
Year with a Bell-Ringing Ceremony,
followed by an observance at B.N. Duke
Auditorium, on Charter Day, the 100th
anniversary of the day the school was
officially incorporated on June 30, 1909.
Chancellor Charlie Nelms spoke of the
symbolic significance of the bell in the
African-American community and
the special place Shepard’s Bell holds
in the hearts of alumni and former
faculty and staff. Here is an excerpt
from his speech.
“We begin our observance with
the ringing of this bell because
historically, the bell holds special
significance in this country,
particularly for the African-
American community. The
most famous, our nation’s
Liberty Bell, became a
symbol of hope and freedom
even before the signing
of the Declaration of
Independence. It bears
the inscription from the
Book of Leviticus (25:10),
“Proclaim LIBERTY
throughout all the
Land unto all of the
inhabitants thereof.”
The image of the
Liberty Bell and its
inscription were
adopted and printed
on the campaign
materials for
William Lloyd
G a r r i s o n ’ s
A b o l i t i o n i s t
Mo v eme n t .
So beginning
in the 1830s,
the bell was associated with freedom from
slavery.
“At the last stop on the Underground
Railroad, in a small community called
Buxton, Ontario, a bell would sound
whenever there was a new, dark-skinned
arrival from the Southern states. That
bell had been a gift from “the colored
inhabitants of Pittsburgh” to the Buxton
conspirator, the Reverend William King. It
still chimes today in Buxton’s St. Andrews
Church steeple.
“Beginning in 1910, Shepard’s Bell sounded
a note of hope for a better future in the stifled
atmosphere of oppression of Jim Crow
segregation. This bell signaled opportunity,
but also certainty, as it tolled like clockwork,
letting the students know they were drawing
nearer to a better life every hour of every
day. And if you listen well, you will hear
that NCCU’s bell still holds the promise of
a better life through education.
“In honor of the Founder, Dr. James E.
Shepard, I will ring this bell.”
Following Chancellor Nelms, Dr. Arthrell
Sanders, alumna and retired professor,
sounded the bell in honor of all faculty and
staff of the institution, and Dwayne Johnson,
student government association president
for the Centennial Year, was called upon to
ring the bell to represent all students.
Chancellor Nelms closed with a stanza
of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, In
Memoriam.
“Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.”
CHARTER DAY OPENS
YEAR OF CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATIONS By Cynthia Fobert and Myra Wooten
Now Magazine 9
In a filled B.N. Duke Auditorium after
the ceremony, guest speaker and alumnus
Dudley E. Flood offered a humorous
look at life on campus in the 1950s, and
particularly the “Spirit of NCC.” He said
the “Spirit” was about the students relying
on one other to get through and learning
how to comport themselves to succeed in
the wider world. He said they were also
instilled with the sense that “life would be
about service to humanity.”
Intermingled with the speeches and
the proclamations of Charter Day from
Durham Mayor Bill Bell and County
Commission Chairman Michael Page
were wonderful solos performed by NCCU
music major Jasmyn Cooper and by Richard
Banks, assistant professor in the Music
Department.
In a dramatic moment, descendants and
family members of the original signers
of the Charter of Incorporation of the
National Religious Training School and
Chautauqua for the Colored Race, the
precursor of North Carolina Central
University, rose and signed a replica of the
document on stage.
The original incorporators included Dr.
James E. Shepard, founder; Professor
William G. Pearson, principal of Hillside
Park High School; physicians Charles
H. Shepard and Aaron M. Moore; and
John Merrick, president, and Charles C.
Spaulding, general manager and secretary,
of the North Carolina Mutual & Provident
Association.
The descendants and family members
on stage included Isaac Hughes Green
Sr., great-grandson of James E. Shepard;
Charles Watts Jr. and Joseph M. Sansom,
great-grandsons of Aaron Moore and John
Merrick; Aaron L. Spaulding, namesake
and relative of Moore and C.C. Spaulding;
Clinton A. Shearin Sr., grandson of
Spaulding; Samuel A. Shepard Jr., a
relative of Shepard; and Eugene Turner,
grandnephew of William G. Pearson.
The following is an excerpt from Chancellor
Nelms’ Charter Day Speech in B.N. Duke
Auditorium.
“Too little has been said of the extraordinary
courage it took for Dr. James E. Shepard
and the other founders to engage in this
“Timothy McIntosh called the assembly to order by ringing the
same bell he sounded five times a day as a student from 1958
to 1962. McIntosh is a 1962 NCC graduate in mathematics
who says his job as bell-ringer helped support him through four
years of college. He was paid about $60 a month to ring the
bell five times a day — to wake the campus, then to announce
breakfast, first class, lunch, and dinner. He recalled that at 6
in the morning he was none too popular with the folks in the
residence halls closest to the bell!”
Timothy McIntosh and Arthrell Sanders pause for a
moment of silence on Charter Day, 2010.
10 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
act of defiance. June 30, 1909, was during
the depths of the great evil that was the
Jim Crow South. In that shameful time
in American history, Shepard signaled
disobedience and declared his hope and
faith in a better tomorrow by founding a
college for African-Americans. In 1909,
laws strictly controlled every aspect of the
life of a black person, from designating the
hospital room in which you could be born
to the plot of ground where you’d take your
final rest.
“And in no other realm of life was segregation
more pernicious than in education. In
1903, a North Carolina statute determined
that no child with ‘Negro blood in its veins,
however remote the strain, shall attend a
school for the white race, and no such child
shall be considered a white child.’
“Historians recount that an average of
two or three black men or women were
sadistically tortured and killed every week
in the American South from 1890 through
1917. After 1917, the rate slowed but never
stopped until well into my lifetime.
“And the lynch mobs were equal-opportunity
killers — the only qualifying
characteristic for the victims was the color
of their skin. So the rich and well-educated
like Shepard and the co-founders were just
as at risk as the poor and illiterate. But of
course, most black people were desperately
poor and illiterate, even in Durham, the
nation’s ‘Capital of the Black Middle
Class.’
“You see, there actually was a handful of
black people who owned their own homes
in Durham. But make no mistake: in 1910,
97 percent of African-Americans worked as
domestic or farm laborers, just a step or two
removed from slavery. It was a status quo
the white racists preferred to keep. We’re
so grateful they weren’t paying attention
as many of Durham’s fledgling middle
class built their modest bungalows in the
neighborhood surrounding this campus
called College View.
“They never came to visit! So they didn’t see
the elegant homes of the few wealthy blacks
residing in the heart of Hayti, a community
buttressed by White Rock Baptist Church,
St. Joseph’s African Methodist Episcopal
Church, Lincoln Hospital, Hillside High
School, the Stanford L. Warren Library and,
of course, this university. It’s miraculous
when you think about it — this island of
prosperity in a sea of despair.
“Shepard and the other founders offered us
a glimpse of what was possible — that there
could be another way of life. Who knows
to what extent the hope they engendered
through this glorious example inspired the
Civil Rights Movement that was to come?
Shepard and the founders were ahead of
their time. They knew then what we all
know now; that education was and is a key
to equality. Today, we honor that stroke of
genius enacted with the stroke of a pen.”
BELL REMINISCENCES
Dr. James E. Shepard served as president
of the school from 1910 until his death
in 1947. A student would ring the bell
to wake the campus in the morning, and
to announce meals, class changes and
assemblies. Shepard “was a stickler for
time,” said Robert Lawson, alumnus and
campus photographer. “The people in the
community set their watches by that bell.”
There was also a tradition of ringing the
bell after every sports victory.
Here are some recollections by those who
heard the bell and answered its call.
Maggie P. Bryant, teacher and
librarian in Creedmoor, and later
in Kannapolis
Maggie Bryant graduated from NCCU in
1938. As a student, she heard Thurgood
Marshall, Roland Hayes and Adam
Clayton Powell speak. “We had a Lyceum
The Charter Day re-enactment of the signing the Charter was conducted on stage at
B.N. Duke Auditorium.
event every week and the bell would ring to
let you know something was happening.”
Born in Rocky Mount, Bryant spent her
first semester at NCCU as a “boarding”
student, living on campus. She remembers
that the 6 a.m. bell was the call to rise and
head out to breakfast, where the meals were
served family-style — and “the football
boys would reach for everything.” “The
bell was always rung on time; that was the
most important thing.” It was particularly
important during the Depression to keep
up with the time of day, she recalls. “People
had to work, everyone worked and you
couldn’t afford to be late.”
Alfred Richardson, former
director of Alumni Relations
Alfred Richardson served as director of
Alumni Relations, major gifts officer,
director of the Historically Underutilized
Business Center, and chauffeur to former
President Alfonso Elder. According to
him, after a game victory, students gathered
around the bell and sang the “NCCU
Victory Hymn” also known as “Ring Dem
Bells.” “People in Durham would wait to
hear the bell rung after a game to be able
to share in the victory. A game victory at
Central was a victory for all of Durham.”
Richardson, Class of ’58, also remembers
the bell as the campus alarm clock. “It
started the day, not just for NCCU, but the
community. Some people would have been
late for work without the bell. During that
time, most people didn’t have wristwatches,
so you needed the bell.”
Richardson also remembers playing practical
jokes on the student whose job it was to
ring the bell by wrapping the clapper in
cloth. The unsuspecting student would pull
the bell cord and nothing would happen. “It
was all in fun,” said Richardson.
George Thorne, former vice
chancellor for Financial Affairs
In 1943, George Thorne lived in McLean
Dormitory, right next door to the bell
tower. He remembers hearing the bell every
morning and “all day long.” “The bell ringer
at the time was Clifton Simmons, we called
him ‘Pee-Wee,’” said Thorne.
Before email or social networks, NCCU
used the bell to stay connected to students.
“It was the only means of communication
from the administration to the general
student body. When you heard the bell, you
knew something important was going on.”
Dr. Walter M. Brown, former
dean of the School of Education
Walter Brown never heard the 6 a.m. wake-up
bell at NCCU; he attended the college
at the age of 16 as a “day student,” which
in today’s terms meant he was a commuter.
He remembers that alumni reunions
were as good a reason as any to “ring dem
bells.” “Spontaneous reunions happened
when alumni from outside the Durham
area would decide to meet at the bell
tower.” Sometimes fraternity and sorority
members would gather at the bell before
walking to their organization’s monuments
on campus.
And while NCCU now connects to
students through social networks, Brown is
a firm believer that “some rituals transcend
time. I would like to see it [the bell] brought
back and associated with special things —
like a church bell, when you hear it you
know something important has happened.
It is a tradition that NCCU students are
missing.”
A true Renaissance man, Brown was the
first to earn a Ph.D. from North Carolina
College, now NCCU — and the first
dean of the School of Education. Now
in retirement, he is a writer, consultant
and calligrapher. He recently completed a
memoir of his experiences at NCCU titled,
“I Walked the Sloping Hills.”
Ingrid Wicker-McCree,
Director of Athletics
When Dr. Ingrid Wicker-McCree came to
NCCU as the head volleyball and softball
coach in 1994, the bell was the sound of
victory. With a young team of students —
mostly freshman or sophomores, Wicker-
McCree continued the tradition of ringing
the bell after every win. “For the first six
years I was here, we would stop the van by
the bell tower and ring the bell.” To her,
the ringing of the bell after a victory is a
familiar sound, and one that she treasures.
Attending weekend games with her
parents, NCCU alumni Floyd and Evelyn
Wicker, she recalls, “It was an exciting place
to be. … The city of Durham embraced the
university.”
Now as director of Athletics, she hopes to
bring back the tradition of ringing the bell
and incorporate it as part of pre- or post-game
activities. “Traditions are important,
and while we have new coaches in athletics
who may not know about the tradition,
there are still plenty of people on campus
who understand the significance of the bell
tower.”
Danny Worthy,
assistant Athletics director —
Corporate Relations
By the time Danny Worthy came to NCCU,
the bell was rung only for special occasions
such as Homecoming and Founder’s Day,
but it still signaled to students that they
were a part of something much larger
than themselves. “We were taught about
the bell during freshman orientation. It
was important that we understood the
significance and history of it. When you
heard the bell rung, the first thing you
did is walk toward it, because you knew
that something was about to happen, an
announcement would be made.”
Now Magazine 11
NCCU Victory Hymn arranged by Charles Gilchrist,
former chair of the
Department of Music
Ring dem bells on NC’s campus
Let them ring as ne’er before
Bow down school now altogether
We will bring the victory home.
We will bring the victory home.
Where ever we may roam
Neath the sloping hills
and verdant green
Verse 2
Ring dem bells for our dear campus
Let them ring as ne’er before
Bow down school now altogether
We will bring the victory home.
We will bring the victory home.
Where ever we may roam
Neath the sloping hills
and verdant green.
“It started the day, not
just for NCCU, but the
community. Some people
would have been late for
work without the bell.”
12 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Sports NCCU Centennial History
Did You Know? By Kyle Serba
Lee Calhoun, 1956 and 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist
This “Did You Know” collection about
North Carolina Central University sports
history is drawn from a weekly series
produced by the Department of Athletics.
To see more of these facts, visit <www.
NCCUEaglePride.com>, the official web
site for NCCU Athletics. In the
Beginning…
DID YOU KNOW? The first
organized sport at NCCU was
baseball. The school fielded a squad
in 1911, the spring of its first
academic year.
According to a master’s thesis by
George L. Samuel, the student-athletes
on that team were Marion
Thompson, Clifton Gardner, James
R. Paterson, Benny Henderson,
Charles Paterson, Louis Hatsfield,
Bishop Faison, Samuel Saunders,
Moses Williams and Elmore Brown.
The coach was Louis “Mighty”
Bumpus, a local businessman.
Eagles Represented NCCU
in the Summer Olympic
Games for Two Decades
DID YOU KNOW? From 1956 to
1976, at least one student-athlete
from NCCU competed in every
Summer Olympics. All of them
competed under the direction of their
NCCU head coach, Dr. LeRoy T. Walker,
who served as head coach for the U.S. men’s
track and field team in 1976 and went on
to become the first African-American
president of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
At the 1956 Games in Melbourne,
Australia, Lee Calhoun won a gold medal
for the United States in the 110-meter
hurdles with a time of 13.5 seconds. Four
years later in Rome, Calhoun became the
first to capture consecutive Olympic gold
medals in the 110m hurdles (13.98).
In the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Edwin
Roberts earned bronze medals in both the
200m dash (20.63) and the 4x400m relay
(3:01.7) for Trinidad and Tobago, his native
country. Roberts ran the same events for
Trinidad and Tobago in the 1968 Games
in Mexico City, placing fourth in the 200m
dash and sixth in the 4x400m relay. NCCU’s
Norman Tate also competed in the Mexico
City Olympic Games in the triple jump.
At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Roberts
ran in his third straight Olympic Games
for Trinidad and Tobago in the 200m dash
and 4x400m relay (eighth place).
Three of his NCCU teammates
also competed in Munich. Larry
Black won a gold medal as the lead
leg of the American 4x100m relay
(38.19) and a silver medal in the
200m dash (20.19). Julius Sang and
Robert Ouko, representing their
home country of Kenya, earned gold
medals as part of the 4x400m relay
squad (2:59.83), while Sang added
a bronze medal in the 400m dash
(44.92).
In the 1976 Games in Montreal,
Charles Foster finished three-hundredths
of a second away from
a medal, placing fourth in the 110m
hurdles (13.41).
Lady Eagles Blaze Trails
in NCAA Cross-Country
History
DID YOU KNOW? On Nov.
4, 2006, NCCU became the first
HBCU (historically black college or
university) to advance to the NCAA
Division II Women’s Cross-Country
National Championships.
The Lady Eagles qualified for the national
event by winning the 2006 NCAA Division
II Southeast Regional Championship held
in Wingate, N.C. NCCU placed five
runners in the top 20 to take the team
Now Magazine 13
regional title. The Lady Eagles posted 61
points, easily outdistancing South Atlantic
Conference member Lincoln Memorial
University by 53 points.
Freshman Ashley Cooke (Hampton,
Va.), the CIAA Runner of the Year, led
the Lady Eagles by placing fifth with a
6K time of 23:57. It was a team effort for
NCCU, as junior Yolanda Barber (eighth,
24:18), senior Aisha Brown (14th, 24:31),
sophomore LaTanya Lesine (15th, 24:32)
and freshman Desinia Johnson (19th,
24:49) all finished in the top 20. Other
runners for NCCU were Erinn Brooks
(22nd, 25:13) and Lakisha Gantt (67th,
26:57).
The top 15 finishers earned All-Southeast
Region honors. NCCU led the way with
four runners (Cooke, Barber, Brown and
Lesine) on the All-Region team.
NCCU head coach Michael Lawson was
named Southeast Region Coach of the
Year after the meet. The NCCU women
then participated on the national stage on
Nov. 18, 2006, in Pensacola, Fla.
One of the First Pro Football
Players from an HBCU was an
NCCU Eagle
DID YOU KNOW? John Brown, who
played football at NCCU (then North
Carolina College) in the 1940s, was one of
the first to play professional football out of
a historically black college.
Brown shares the honor with Ezzret
Anderson of Kentucky State and Elmore
Harris of Morgan State, who all began
their professional football careers in 1947.
Brown and Anderson were teammates on
the Los Angeles Dons, while Harris was a
member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
According to NCCU records, Brown was
the first of the three to sign a professional
football contract. He played center and
linebacker with the Dons from 1947–49,
before moving to the Canadian Football
League.
Brown played for the NCC Eagles in
1940, 1942 and 1946–47, lettering in both
football and basketball. He was part of the
inaugural induction class of the NCCU
Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.
Matthews First Volleyball All-
American, National Player of the
Year for NCCU
DID YOU KNOW? Shari Matthews
became NCCU’s first volleyball All-
American when she was voted the 2006
NCAA Division II National Player of the
Year.
In just two seasons at NCCU (2006–07),
Matthews broke the school record for
career kills with 1,447 and career service
aces with 229, while also collecting 860
digs and 139 blocks.
A native of Barbados, Matthews was selected
as the 2006–07 and 2007–08 recipient of
the LeRoy T. Walker Medallion of Honor
as NCCU’s Female Student-Athlete of the
Year.
As a junior transfer, she led the nation
with an average of 6.37 kills and 0.92
service aces per game, breaking the NCAA
Division II record for kills in a season with
974. Matthews was named CIAA Player of
the Year and CIAA Championship Most
Valuable Player after guiding the team
to its third consecutive CIAA (Central
Intercollegiate Athletic Association)
championship title.
As a senior in 2007, her 473 kills and 89
service aces helped the Eagles to a 21–13
Diving for the end zone
14 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
overall record in their first season of
Division I competition.
NCCU Football Boasts Highest
Winning Percentage among
North Carolina HBCUs
DID YOU KNOW? Since 1945, the
North Carolina Central University football
program has the highest winning percentage
among HBCUs in North Carolina.
Since the end of World War II, the Eagles
have won 57.3 percent of their 648 games.
The overall record is 362 wins, 267 losses
and 19 ties.
The in-state HBCU football programs
with the next highest winning percentages
happen to be NCCU’s two biggest rivals,
Winston-Salem State and North Carolina
A&T State. The WSSU Rams have
won 54.8 percent of their contests, while
the N.C. A&T Aggies have a winning
percentage of 53.9 percent.
Boston Celtics Star Played at
NCCU before Hall of Fame NBA
Career
DID YOU KNOW? Boston Celtics star
Sam Jones, one of the greatest NBA players
of all time, is North Carolina Central
University’s second-leading career scorer.
Jones played at NCCU from 1951–54
and 1956–57, netting 1,745 points in
four seasons under head coaches John
McLendon and Floyd Brown.
A native of Wilmington, Jones was chosen
by the Celtics as the eighth overall pick in
the first round of the 1957 NBA Draft.
His 12-year career with the Celtics included
ten NBA Championships, five All-Star
Game appearances and three selections to
the All-NBA Second Team. Nicknamed
“Mr. Clutch,” Jones amassed 15,411 points
(an average of 17.7 per game), 4,305
rebounds and 2,209 assists in 871 contests.
He was inducted into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984,
and in 1996 was named among the top 50
players in NBA history.
Lady Eagles Rally from Last-
Place Regular-Season Finish
to Win CIAA Basketball
Championship
DID YOU KNOW? The 1983–84 NCCU
women’s basketball team ended the regular
season with a 9–17 overall record and a last-place
finish in the conference standings.
But two weeks later, after knocking off
Hampton, Winston-Salem State and
Shaw in the first three rounds of the CIAA
Tournament, the Lady Eagles capped a
remarkable run by defeating Virginia State
92–87 on Feb. 25, 1984, to win the school’s
first conference championship in a women’s
sport.
NCCU senior Jacqueline Pinnix topped
the team’s championship charge with a
tournament record 123 points in four games,
an average of 30.8 points per contest.
Members of the championship squad were
Terri Abel, Francis Barnhill, Wanda Bradley,
Robin Brooks, Renee Cohen, Brenda Cox,
Priscilla Herring, Monica Johnson, Mona
McLaurin, Linda Nicholson, Jacqueline
Pinnix, Diedra Solomon, Rena Sharpe,
Sharon Wheeler, Tynetta Williams. Yvonne
Edwards was the head coach and Ronald
Willie was the assistant coach.
Coach McLendon’s “Thousand-
Dollar Team” Won School’s First
Championship in 1941
DID YOU KNOW? Under the direction
of first-year head coach John B. McLendon,
the 1940–41 men’s basketball team won
the first championship in NCCU athletics
history.
McLendon called the 1941 Eagles his
“thousand-dollar team” because just before
he became head coach he turned down a
job at another school that would have paid
him $1,000 more.
The squad repaid their coach’s loyalty
by posting an unblemished 14–0 record
in CIAA play to earn the conference
championship. The Associated Negro Press
rated this edition of the Eagles as No. 1 in
the nation.
After its CIAA triumph, the team took on
other conference champions at an end-of-season
tournament in Cincinnati on March
22, 1941 — and played four games in a
single day.
The Eagles defeated three conference
champions, then lost a protested decision
to the fourth. NCCU defeated Clark
College (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference) 61–54 at 10 a.m., West
Virginia State College (West Virginia
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) 61–39
at 2 p.m., Kentucky State College (Midwest
Athletic Association) 43–37 at 7 p.m., and
lost to Southern University (Southwestern
Athletic Conference) 48–42 at 9 p.m.
The team was honored among the inaugural
induction class of the NCCU Athletic Hall
of Fame in 1984. By 1940s standards, the
Eagles had five giants, ranging in height
from 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-11. Team members
included James “Boogie” Hardy, Richard
“Dick” Mack, Floyd H. Brown, George
“Mighty” Mack, Leo Fine, Walter Womack,
William “Bill” Peerman, Rudolph “Rocky”
Roberson, Reginald “Hawk” Ennis, John
“Big” Brown, Norbert “Slim” Downing,
Harold “Slam” Colbert, Lee W. Smith,
Buford Allen, and Monroe Collins.
1941 Gridiron Eagles Receive
Shocking News on Train Ride
Back to Durham
DID YOU KNOW? As the North
Carolina College (now NCCU) Eagles
Elisha Marshall and Coach Michael Lawson
at the 2004 Hall of Fame Induction
were returning home on Dec. 7, 1941, from
playing Morris Brown in the black college
football national championship game in
Atlanta, the attack on Pearl Harbor was
announced during the train ride.
The day before, the Eagles suffered their
only loss of the season with a 7–6 setback
to Morris Brown in the Peach Blossom
Classic. NCC opened the season with
eight consecutive victories, including five
shutouts, followed by a scoreless tie against
Virginia State.
With the United States’ involvement in
World War II, the Eagles did not have
football teams in 1943 and 1944. The Eagles
returned to the gridiron for the 1945 season
and have played football every year since.
Elisha Marshall, NCCU’s First
Female National Champion
DID YOU KNOW? On May 23, 1998,
Elisha Marshall became the first female to
win a national championship in NCCU
history when she won the women’s
100-meter dash at the 1998 NCAA
Division II Outdoor Track and Field
Championships in Edwardsville, Ill.
A six-time All-American, the Fayetteville
native finished the race in 11.81 seconds
to earn recognition as the top women’s
100-meter sprinter in NCAA Division II.
“It was a perfect ending to my senior year,”
Marshall said moments after making
history. “First graduation, and now a
national championship.” Marshall was
inducted into the NCCU Athletic Hall of
Fame in 2004.
Since Marshall’s feat, two other Lady
Eagles have earned the top prize in national
competition. On March 9, 2002, Katerina
Glosova won the women’s 800-meter run
at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and
Field Championships in Boston. The senior
from the Czech Republic posted a winning
time of 2:08.73.
On May 26, 2006, Jessica Mills won the
women’s triple jump at the NCAA Division
II Outdoor Track and Field Championships
in Emporia, Kan. The New Jersey native
recorded the ninth-longest triple jump in
Division II Championship history with a
leap of 42 feet, 6.75 inches (12.97m).
Two Players Have Represented
NCCU at the Super Bowl
DID YOU KNOW? Two Eagles have
represented North Carolina Central
University on the National Football
League’s grandest stage — the Super
Bowl.
The first was Richard Sligh, a reserve tackle
with the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl
II against the Green Bay Packers on Jan.
14, 1968. Sligh, who holds the distinction
of being the tallest player in NFL history
(7-foot-0), played at NCCU from 1962-64
and was later drafted by the Raiders in the
10th round of the 1967 NFL draft.
On Jan. 24, 1982, former Eagle Louis
Breeden was a starting cornerback for the
Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI
against the San Francisco 49ers. Earlier
in the season (Nov. 8, 1981), Breeden
intercepted a pass thrown by San Diego
Now Magazine 15
1984 Women’s Basketball Team
09/02/10 vs. Johnson C. Smith
09/11/10 vs. Winston-Salem State
09/18/10 at Appalachian State
09/25/10 vs. North Carolina A&T
10/09/10 vs. Hampton University
10/16/10 at Georgia State
10/23/10 vs. Bethune Cookman
10/30/10 vs. Edward Waters
(Homecoming)
11/06/10 at Delaware State
11/13/10 at Savannah State
11/20/10 vs. Old Dominion
2010 NCCU
Football
Schedule
16
Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts and
returned it a team-record 102 yards for a
touchdown. The following year, he was
selected as a First-Team All-Pro.
A two-time all-conference pick during his
NCCU career from 1973–76, Breeden was
chosen by the Bengals in the seventh round
of the 1977 NFL draft. He completed his
10-year NFL career with 33 interceptions
for 558 return yards and two touchdowns.
NCCU Men’s Tennis Boasts 10
Conference Championships, Two
NAIA District Titles, NCAA
Regional Crown
DID YOU KNOW? The men’s tennis
program has won ten conference
championships. Only the Eagles football
program has captured as many league titles
as men’s tennis.
Under the direction of Dr. James W. Younge,
who coached the Eagles from 1949 to 1975,
NCCU recorded nine conference crowns,
including five in the CIAA and four in the
MEAC. The Eagles earned three straight
CIAA titles from 1957–59, followed by
back-to-back CIAA championships in
1964 and 1965. Younge’s squads dominated
the MEAC with four consecutive league
titles from 1972–75.
During Younge’s tenure, the Eagles
tennis program also captured the 1963
NCAA Eastern Regional Tournament
championship and NAIA District titles in
1970 and 1971.
The Eagles captured their tenth men’s
tennis conference championship in 1998, as
second-year coach David Nass guided the
team to the program’s sixth CIAA crown.
Roberson Breaks National
Scoring Record with 58 Points for
Eagles in 1943
DID YOU KNOW? On Feb. 20, 1943,
Rudolph “Rocky” Roberson broke the
men’s basketball national scoring record
with 58 points, leading NCCU (then North
Carolina College) to a 92–43 victory over
Shaw University.
Sportscaster Bill Stern’s coast-to-coast
report on Roberson’s feat marked the first
national recognition for an HBCU player.
In his record-setting performance, Roberson
made 25 field goals and eight free throws to
become only the second college basketball
player to reach the 50-point mark. The
first was Hank Luisetti of Stanford, who
scored 50 points against Duquesne on Jan.
1, 1938.
Sixty-seven years later, Roberson’s standard
still stands as the Eagles single-game
scoring record.
1963 Men’s Tennis Team
Visit http://www.nccueaglepride.com for
schedule updates and more information.
The men’s tennis program
has won ten conference
championships. Only the
Eagles football program has
captured as many league
titles as men’s tennis.
Now Magazine 17
TEAMS
1945–46 Men’s Basketball
1954 Football
1972 Men’s Track and Field
1972 Football
1988–89 Men’s Basketball
2006 Softball
2006 Women’s Cross–Country
2006 Football
2006 Women’s Volleyball
2006–07 Women’s Basketball
COACHES
Floyd H. Brown, men’s basketball, 1952–70
Michael Bernard, men’s basketball, 1985–91
Robert “Stonewall” Jackson, football, 1964–94
John B. McLendon, men’s basketball, 1940–52
Herman H. Riddick, football, 1945–64
George L. Quiett, football, 1968–72
Sandra T. Shuler, volleyball/athletics, 1966–93
LeRoy T. Walker, track and field, 1947–77
Ingrid Wicker–McCree, volleyball, 1994–
2005/softball 1994–98
James W. Younge, men’s tennis, 1949–1975
1988-89 Men’s Championship Basketball Team
An internet survey from July 20–Sept. 1, 2009, invited fans to vote for their top 10
teams, 10 coaches and 80 student-athletes to make up a list of 100 Sports Legends as part
of the university’s centennial celebration. Here are the results.
for NCCU’s Centennial 100Sports Legends
18 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Israel Allen, boxing, 1930s
Catherine Gamble Armwood, tennis/athletics, 1965–69
Rena Armwood, volleyball/softball, 1996–99/2006
Charles Bailey, football, 1969–72
John Baker, football, 1954–57
Ernest Barnes, football, 1956–59
Melvin Bassett, track and field, 1971–74
Tiona Beatty, basketball, 2000–04
Larry Black, track and field, 1969–74
Sophia Blue, softball, 2006–09
Evangela Niko Booker, cross–country/track and field, 1991–94
Willie Bradshaw, baseball, 1947–50
Louis Breeden, football, 1973–76
Brenda Brown, volleyball, 2002–05
John E. Brown, football/basketball, 1940–47
Stadford Brown, football, 2006–08
Lee Calhoun, track and field, 1952–56
Robert Clark, football, 1983–86
Miles Clarke, basketball, 1988–89
Lee O. Davis, basketball, 1964–68
Ron Draper, track and field, 1967–71
Harry J. Edmonds, baseball, 1940s
Charles Foster, track and field, 1971–75
Gerald Fraylon, football, 1981–84
Von Fulmore, basketball, 1984–87
Jerome Floyd Gantt, football, 1966–69
Brandon Gilbert, football, 2004–08
Katerina Glosova, cross–country/track and field, 1999–2002
Michelle Harrison, basketball/softball, 1993–98
Charles “Tex” Harrison, basketball, 1950–54
James Earl Harvey, football, 1985–88
William L. Hayes Sr., football, 1961–64
Willie J. Hayes, football, 1955–58
Harvey Heartley, basketball, 1951–55
Richard Hicks, football, 1959–62
Eric W. Hines, football, 1975–79
Charles D. Hinton, football, 1958–62
Harold Hunter, basketball, 1946–50
Jefferson Inmon, football, 1969–72
Luther R. Jeralds, football, 1957–60
Walter Johnson, track and field, 1958–61
Danielle Johnson–Webb, volleyball/basketball, 2000–05
Alex L. Jones, football, 1970–73
Ricardo Jones, tennis, 1973–75
Sam Jones, basketball, 1951–54/1956–57
Cassie King, basketball, 2003–07
Amba Kongolo, basketball, 1998–2002
Clarence E. Lightner, football, 1938–41
George K. Lipscomb, baseball, 1940s
Robert Little, basketball, 1971–75
Ted L. Manning, basketball, 1962–66
Elisha Marshall, track and field, 1994–98
Aaron Martin, football, 1960–63
Julian Martin, football, 1966–69
Robert Massey, football, 1985–88
Herman W. Mathews, football, 1966–69
Shari Matthews, volleyball, 2006–07
LeVelle Moton, basketball, 1992–96
Robert Okuo, track and field, 1972–74
Dwight Pettiford, football, 1971–74
Jacqueline Pinnix, basketball/volleyball, 1980–84
Alfred A. Poe, tennis, 1961–65
Greg Pruitt Jr., football, 2004–06
Ronald Ray, track and field, 1973–75
Edwin Roberts, track and field, 1962–66
Julius Sang, track and field, 1972–74
Pame Sawyer, basketball/volleyball, 1986–90
Joe Simmons, football, 1990–93
Jason Smoots, track and field, 1999–2003
Maurice Spencer, football, 1970–73
Stephanie Spindler, softball, 1997–99
Clarisse Steans, softball, 2004–06
Garvin L. Stone, football, 1969–72
Franklin E. Tate, football, 1971–74
Norman Tate, track and field, 1961–65
Zakia VanHoose, basketball, 1998–2002
Ernest Warlick, football/basketball, 1948–52
Davita Watson, volleyball, 1996–99
Doug Wilkerson, football, 1965, 1967–69
Joe Williams, tennis, 1962–66
Cassie King, basketball, 2003–07
STUDENT–ATHLETES
Now Magazine 19
uccess in college athletics is often
defined solely by wins, especially in
the form of championships.
In fact, North Carolina Central
University won 10 conference championships
during its final three seasons of competition
on the NCAA Division II level. Since the
beginning of NCCU’s transition into the
ranks of NCAA Division I in the fall of
2007, though, the competition has been
tougher and more experienced, and the
travel longer and more demanding. The
result has been more setbacks and fewer
post-game celebrations.
Still, while victories and league titles remain
the most visible form of achievement in
college sports, there is more than the final
score that can be used to determine a level
of success for an intercollegiate athletics
department.
Greater Visibility. The advancement
to Division I has provided a vehicle to
promote the University on a national scale
through the travel of its athletics teams.
Since the fall of 2007, Eagle student-athletes
have represented NCCU in 30
states. During those trips, the University
gained valuable exposure in areas of the
country that might otherwise never hear
about NCCU.
New Partnerships. The opposition has
changed too. Through athletic competition,
NCCU has now found itself associated with
the likes of Indiana, Rutgers, Nebraska,
Florida, Michigan, Miami, Arkansas,
Virginia Tech, Maryland, Kansas State, Air
Force, Navy and more. Within the state,
greater alliances have been formed with
opponents such as Duke, North Carolina,
N.C. State, Wake Forest, East Carolina,
Appalachian State and Elon.
Increased recognition as a Division I
program has also allowed the athletics
department to develop new partnerships
with area businesses. A drive for expanded
community service by second-year Director
of Athletics Ingrid Wicker-McCree has
placed NCCU student-athletes as role
models into neighborhoods surrounding
the Durham campus and beyond.
Improved Facilities. Within the past three
years, athletics facilities have undergone
several improvements. O’Kelly-Riddick
Stadium was transformed in 2009 with the
installation of artificial turf and a modern
video scoreboard. The tennis courts received
a fresh playing surface and new fencing,
and the baseball team now has a home at
the superbly renovated, historic Durham
Athletic Park, made famous in the award-winning
film Bull Durham.
Locker room facelifts have updated the
spaces for men’s and women’s basketball,
volleyball and football, while softball and
track and field teams now have locker
rooms to call their own.
Also, as a sign of the athletics department’s
sincere commitment to academics, the
weight room in McDougald–McLendon
Gymnasium was converted into a computer/
tutoring lab for all students.
Academic Achievement. The transition
to Division I has also allowed the athletics
department to significantly improve the
quality of academic support for its student-athletes.
Increased staffing has provided the
athletics department with its first full-time
staff member dedicated exclusively to the
academic well-being of student-athletes.
The enhanced level of academic support
and oversight has paid big dividends.
During the spring 2009 semester, more
than 30 percent of NCCU’s student-athletes
achieved a 3.0 grade point average
or higher, and 10 Eagles carried perfect 4.0
averages. Furthermore, within the past year,
71 student-athletes have graduated, earning
bachelor’s or master’s degrees.
So while the victories may not be piling up
at a rate similar to the days before the move
to Division I, Eagle fans still have plenty to
be proud of.
And it won’t be long before NCCU returns
to its winning ways in the Mid-Eastern
Athletic Conference.
Defining
Success More than the Final Score
S
By Kyle Serba
Now Magazine 21
Campus
NEWS
• U.S. News & World Report ranked NCCU as No. 10 in its list of
best HBCUs in the nation, and first among public HBCUs.
• The National Jurist magazine has now twice ranked the Law
School the Best-Value Law School in the Nation. Rankings are
based on affordability, bar passage rate and job placement.
• In December 2008, NCCU was awarded the Carnegie
Foundation Community Engagement Classification for both
Curricular Engagement, and Outreach and Partnerships, making
it one of only 120 campuses nationwide to earn the designation.
• NCCU was also selected for the President’s Higher Education
Community Service Honor Roll – 2008.
• NCCU achieved designation as a military-friendly school, as
defined by GIJobs.com.
Student Success
• The raising of the intellectual climate on campus has been a
high priority for this administration. To this purpose, high-profile
speakers such as 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad
Yunus and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. were invited to campus
to speak to students in 2009.
• College of Science and Technology students won prestigious
awards, including a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and the
American Association for Cancer Research Thomas J. Bardos
Science Education Award for Undergraduate Students.
• The College of Science and Technology held its inaugural
Undergraduate Research Symposium last spring. The keynote
speaker was Dr. Amanda C. Bryant-Friedrich, an NCCU alumna
who is now associate professor of Medicinal and Biological
Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Toledo.
More than 30 students showcased their research through oral and
poster presentations.
• Students in the Nursing Department have earned an average
passage rate of 90 percent over the last three years on the NCLEX,
the state nursing examination.
• Our Jazz Ensemble performed at the famous Newport Jazz
Festival in Newport, R.I., with artist-in-residence Branford
Marsalis.
• Our Marching Sound Machine was chosen to perform at the
Honda Battle of the Bands in Atlanta for the sixth straight time.
• The Marching Sound Machine was also selected for the 2011
Tournament of Roses Parade.
Customer Service
• As part of the Quality Service Initiative (QSI), a customer-service
training program, customer service kudos or complaints may be
shared online through NCCU Listens. Entries are forwarded to
the parties that can best respond to them within 24 hours.
• The Division of Student Affairs initiated procedural changes that
enhanced responsiveness in admissions and developed an online
application for Graduate Studies. Student Affairs also launched
StudentCentral, in which students are guaranteed a callback within
24 hours in response to any expressed concern.
Commendations
• The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaccreditation
process was completed in December 2009, with the university
having its accreditation reaffirmed for 10 years. A pilot program
for the SACS-inspired Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), called
Communicating To Succeed, was begun last fall with about 150
new students attending Dimensions of Learning and English
Composition courses. Those students will be tracked to measure
their success in future speaking and writing-intensive courses.
Major components of the QEP, the Writing Studio and the
Speaking Lab, are up and running. The effectiveness of these efforts
will be evaluated, and the results used to fine-tune the strategy for
eventual expansion across campus. The goal is to make exceptional
oral and written skill the standard for NCCU graduates.
• In 2009, the Nursing Department added the Accelerated Second-
Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program to its offerings.
• The Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and Tourism
Administration continues to provide workers
for North Carolina’s growing hospitality
and tourism industry. The program
maintains an average enrollment of about
130 students. In an effort to boost this
number, the degree was offered online
starting in August 2009, with an
initial enrollment of 23 students. The
Master of Business Administration
with a concentration in Hospitality
and Services Management will be
offered in the fall of 2010.
• University College has become a hub
of academic advising, supplemental
instruction and tutoring to facilitate a
smooth transition from high school
to college and to ensure student
success. Initial results are
encouraging. The
freshman-to-sophomore retention rate increased from 68 to 77
percent after the first year of the program.
• The Centennial Scholars Program was created to support the
retention and graduation of African-American males.
Construction on Campus
• NCCU has begun to upgrade recreational facilities and advocate
for new ones. Lighting has been installed on the track so students
can walk or run at night. Hours have been expanded at the LeRoy
T. Walker Physical Education and Recreation Complex, and
$11.5 million was set aside to renovate fitness spaces and replace
antiquated equipment. The project is scheduled for completion in
December.
• Ground was broken Feb. 24, 2010, on the 65,000-square-foot
nursing building. The $22.5 million facility will include a
250-seat auditorium, a large skills lab and a family room
for students with children. Completion is scheduled for
July 2011. To make room for the new nursing building,
the historic Holy Cross Catholic Church was moved
to Fayetteville Street beside the Shepard House and
repurposed as a meeting space for NCCU and the
community.
• Currently, many staff and students must resort to
on-street parking. Inadequate street lighting makes
for an uncomfortable walk at night, and the cars are
a source of irritation to our neighbors. This concern
will be alleviated significantly by the construction of
the Latham Parking Deck, which will cost $15 million
and provide parking for 750 vehicles. At ground level, the
building will also contain a coffee shop, bookstore and police
substation. Completion is scheduled for August 2010.
• NCCU has begun construction of the $30
million Chidley North Residence Hall,
with completion planned for May
2011. It will offer 520 beds and
will complement the existing
Chidley Main, which will
be renovated as soon as
possible. It will help address
the shortage of campus
housing. There are now
just 2,291 housing spaces
on campus, not enough to
accommodate even the first-priority
students, freshmen
and sophomores. Renovation
of Chidley Main, once funds
become available, would add
198 more beds.
• Space is being renovated
for a communications center
New Academic Programs
Continued on pg. 25
Now Magazine 23
5 Priorities
Merit and Need-Based Financial Aid
Global Opportunities
Attracting Quality Faculty
College Readiness and Outreach
Campus Beautification
Go to: http://www.nccu.edu/giveonline
Invest in the Vision
Katherine Gavin
Senior | Business Major
24 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
is heading to the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade and
we need your support. Contact the Office of Institutional
Advancement to find out how your conribution can help.
(919) 530-6151 | http://www.nccu.edu/giveonline
Now Magazine 25
for campus police, including an outdoor public notification system.
The total investment is $900,000.
• Through the Academic Community Service Learning Program
(ACSLP), students provide tutoring services in six local public
schools.
• In fall 2009, in collaboration with the City of Durham, ACSLP
managed a Fayetteville Street cleanup, deploying more than 1,200
volunteers, including 750 students.
• On Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2010, NCCU began construction
of a second Habitat for Humanity residence in the nearby Eagle
Village neighborhood.
• Also supported by ACSLP, the Eagle Pride Blood Drive achieved
record donations again in 2009. Several hundred students were
tested for sickle cell anemia and recruited for the bone marrow
registry.
Memberships and Accreditations
• The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) invited NCCU
to join the conference as its 13th member effective July 1, 2010.
• The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission
reaffirmed the accreditation of the Department of Nursing.
• The Environmental Science degree program was awarded full six-year
accreditation by the National Environmental Health Science
and Protection Accreditation Council.
• The Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality
Administration accredited the Hospitality and Tourism
Administration Program. NCCU is the only HBCU so accredited
and offers one of only two such programs in the state.
• Geography and Earth Sciences in the Department of
Environmental, Earth, and Geospatial Sciences gained membership
in the University Consortium for Geographic Information
Science.
Grants
• The College of Science and Technology received more than $20
million in outside funding for grants, contracts and cooperative
research agreements. The largest single awards were $5 million
each for the Computational Center for Fundamental and Applied
Science (an NSF Center for Research Excellence in Science and
Technology) and the NASA Center for Aerospace Device Research
and Education (NASA-CADRE). Senior investigators from five
CST departments are conducting research and mentoring students
in these centers.
• The NCCU Department of Criminal Justice and the Institute
for Homeland Security & Workforce Development have received
a $902,000 grant through a partnership with the Rural Domestic
Preparedness Consortium. NCCU is one of only five academic
institutions across the nation to join the consortium as a full
partner.
• BRITE External research funding reached $1.2 million in
2009. BRITE researchers have submitted three provisional patent
applications, and two more are in the works.
• The School of Library and Information Sciences received a
second grant from the Laura Bush 21st Century Library Program
in the amount of $856,000. The purpose is to increase the number
of minority students in the SLIS program.
• The Special Education Department was awarded two federal
grants from the U.S. Department of Education: $795,000 for
Expanding the Re-ED Model: Preparing Teacher Counselors for
Tier III Students from Diverse Communities (2007-2011); and
$525,080 for Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Services to
Blind and Visually Impaired Individuals (2008-2012).
OCTOBER 23
Community Engagement
26 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
orth Carolina Central
University obtained a
five-year, $5 million
grant this year from the
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA). The
money is significant, but not nearly
as important as what the grant means
for hands-on research experiences
for NCCU’s students, and for the
university’s reputation as a scientific
leader.
The grant names NCCU as a member
of the NASA University Research
Centers (URC) and creates a NASA
Center for Aerospace Devices
Research and Education, or NASA-CADRE.
It is one of only about a
dozen NASA centers nationwide.
In science, scholars “can’t just get ex-perience
from a book,” said Branislav
Vlahovic, a physics professor who is
the leader of the push for the NASA
grants and other major federal
awards. The NASA research allows
students to translate their theoretical
work into finished products. “You
have to make something,” Vlahovic
said, “to produce these sophisticated
materials, to see them, to feel them,
to rotate them in your hands.”
NASA & By Paul Brown Jr.
N
Vlahovic, 54, is imposingly tall — six feet, four inches — and
soft-spoken. His crisp attire is at odds with the rumpled physics
professor look often portrayed in movies. Like many scientists,
Vlahovic (pronounced vla-HO-vich) is at his most animated when
talking about protons smashing at high speeds or measuring the
properties of light or the benefits of nanostructures.
The CADRE designation is based largely on research already being
done by NCCU faculty and students. CADRE looks to campus
scientists to help solve sticky problems that could improve NASA’s
exploration of space and mankind’s understanding of the nature of
the universe. The designation places NCCU, usually more noted
for its liberal arts and law education, in an important segment of
research academia. In fact, the NASA center is a collaboration
of some of the nation’s finest scientific and
computational institutions.
Among the NASA-CADRE problems that
Vlahovic’s students and colleagues now will
engage are:
— How to more precisely measure minute
concentrations of certain chemicals through the
use of better biochemical sensors. This could be
helpful in analyzing the atmosphere of Venus,
designing more efficient rocket engines, or
helping authorities determine the extent of the
danger of a chemical attack on an urban subway
system.
— How to better measure the properties of
high-energy gamma rays, which would provide
a deeper understanding of the workings of the
sun, the creation of galaxies and of nuclear
forces in general. NCCU faculty and students
already have invented a measuring device called
a polarimeter that far advances the study of
gamma rays in nuclear physics. The device is in
use at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility in Newport News, Va.
— How to use nanotechnology — the study of the controlling
of matter on an atomic and molecular scale — to design more
efficient photovoltaic cells for powering space vehicles. The cells
convert sunlight into electricity. The ones now used to light and
power the International Space Station are larger than the station
itself. NCCU students and faculty will explore ways to build
smaller, lighter cells that are not only more efficient, but also easier
and cheaper to launch into space.
Seventeen principal investigators from five NCCU departments
will take part in the research. Other CADRE institutions include
Cornell University, Duke University, the Jefferson Accelerator
Facility and NASA’s Goddard, Ames and Glenn research centers.
At NCCU, the research will take place largely in the Physics
Department laboratories in the Mary M. Townes Science Building.
The high-tech labs are a far cry from the single, outdated facility in
which students previously toiled. The Townes building houses six
teaching and research labs, including one that allows students to
design computer programs for problems while they are researching
them. A second lab, scheduled to open by the end of 2010, is a
“clean room” that will allow the production of semiconductors. A
third lab contains a powerful laser.
The CADRE grant will enhance the ability of faculty members to
conduct research and publish their findings. Vlahovic points out
Now Magazine 27
Dr. Branislav Vlahovic is helping to lead NCCU into the future
NCCU
that Physics Department faculty are publishing “about 50 papers a
year in the most prestigious journals in the world,” a high rate for
a department with just five tenure-track and 10 adjunct research
faculty members.
At least as important are the benefits the grant will deliver to
NCCU’s physics students; there now are about 20 undergraduate
physics majors and 18 graduate students. Dr. Charles “Ron” Jones
said the grant boosts “NCCU’s ability to recruit well-qualified
students, and offer those students the opportunity to participate
in research activities at the highest level of excellence.” The NASA
and NSF grants also “come at a time when the master’s degree
program in Physics is relatively new, and they will be extremely
important to the success of that program.”
The two-year-old master’s program graduates its first six students
in May.
The CADRE program allows NCCU students to perform research
in prestigious labs and collaborate with fellow students and faculty
from around the world. They can use Cornell’s electron microscope,
for instance, to delve into the details of nanostructures. Continuing
research using NCCU’s groundbreaking polarimeter will take place
in a new facility being built at the Jefferson Accelerator centered
on the invention itself.
“We designed research projects that have interdisciplinary education
components, based on real-world problems,” said Vlahovic. “And
we apply a philosophy that emphasizes learning gleaned through
experience and active participation in research. Students can gain
an appreciation for the broad base of cognitive knowledge needed
to solve problems and realize the effectiveness of collaborating
with scientists from multiple disciplines.”
The grant also will make it easier for student researchers to
pursue their passion, because it provides about $300,000 a year
in student stipends. “Many [students] are working at Wal-Mart
and McDonald’s in order to support themselves,” said Vlahovic.
“The stipends help them get their independence, not to work but
to focus on study.”
Vlahovic himself received his undergraduate and graduate degrees
in his native Croatia, at Zagreb University. He has a doctorate in
physics and material science and a master’s and post-doctorate in
nuclear physics.
He came to the United States in 1990 to join the Duke physics
faculty. At the time, he and hundreds of scientists around the world
were trying to solve a basic problem in physics: What happens to
a proton-neutron pair when it is smashed by a proton moving at
high speed. The answer helps scientists understand the nature of
nuclear force.
Duke, however, specialized in experimental physics, and Vlahovic
wanted to attack the problem using calculations. He moved in
the 1996-97 academic year to NCCU, where, he said, “I had the
flexibility” to approach the problem by the methods he preferred.
That work led to the creation of a productive computational group
at NCCU, a team that was able to address the physics problem
rigorously, without resorting to approximations. It also led in large
measure to the invention of the new polarimeter.
In 2004, Vlahovic won the O. Max Gardner Award, which
recognizes UNC system faculty members who make great
contributions to human welfare. It is the only statewide honor given
to faculty members by the Board of Governors of the 17-campus
UNC system. He was nominated for his innovative research and
work with minority undergraduate students in the areas of science
and education.
The next year, he was named chairman of the department, and held
the post until early 2009. He stepped down to direct the Center
for Research Excellence in Computational Sciences, which was
formed after he won a $5 million award from the National Sciences
Foundation in Oct. 2008.
The CADRE grant will finance 12 new master’s students and
four additional post-doctorate fellows. All 16 will participate in
teaching and research, he said.
Which presents Vlahovic with another space problem, this one
having nothing to do with exploring the cosmos: All offices in
the department are occupied, so Vlahovic has to find room to
accommodate the additional staff.
28 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Ochije H. Ikechukwu, a graduate student working with Dr. Vlahovic
eceiving $5 million from the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration for a prestigious research
center is great for North Carolina Central University’s
Physics Department. Receiving a front-row seat to
the thundering launch of one of NASA’s space shuttle
flights was another thing altogether for three NCCU
professors.
The three — Branislav Vlahovic and Marvin Wu from the
Physics Department and Alade O. Tokuta from the Math and
Computer Science Department — traveled to the Kennedy Space
Center in November 2009 for a conference on how to administer
a $5 million NASA Center for Aerospace Device Research and
Education (NASA-CADRE) grant. The conference, attended by
representatives of all six U.S. universities with
NASA Research Centers, was an otherwise
routine gathering. But it coincided with the
launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis.
“Watching the shuttle go up reminds you of the
incredible technical challenges NASA faces,
not just to launch the shuttle, but to plan and
execute missions to Mars,” said Wu.
Vlahovic, director of the university’s NASA
center, said the successful launch somewhat
mirrored the CADRE grant. Several distinct
organizations and research efforts are needed
to fling the massive aircraft into orbit.
“You have a lot of groups all over the nation
putting their small pieces together for it to work
smoothly,” he said “You need to kind of think
of a mosaic, each institution having a tiny piece
of the picture.”
Wu said witnessing the liftoff of the 4.5-million-pound
spacecraft is an experience “impressive
on a different order of magnitude.” Guests are seated two miles
from the launch pad. Still, said Vlahovic, “everything vibrates.
You feel the steam. You smell it.”
Atlantis’ mission was to deliver a host of spare parts to the orbiting
International Space Station, and to prepare the station for its final
major addition. The station gets its electrical power from an array
of photovoltaic cells that is larger than the inhabited part of the
station.
Part of NCCU’s CADRE research involves developing
photovoltaic cells that are lighter and more compact, and thus
easier and less expensive to deploy in space.
“You need to kind of
think of a mosaic, each
institution having a tiny
piece of the picture.”
Now Magazine 29
Dr. Wu explains expressed his thoughts about the day of the shuttle launch.
By Paul V. Brown Jr. R
30 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Marching Sound Machine
Gives New Meaning to Heart and Soul By Myra Wooten
Now Magazine 31
ust about anyone can make music, John Philip Sousa once observed. “But
touching the public heart,” he added, “is quite another thing.” For an example
of what the March King meant by that, one need look no further than the
electrifying performance in January by NCCU’s Marching Sound Machine at
the Honda Battle of the Bands in Atlanta. It left no doubt that the band had
thoroughly earned its prized invitation to the 2011 Rose Parade.
The band has had a Cinderella year, including its sixth consecutive appearance at
Honda Battle of the Bands (NCCU is the only school to achieve such a feat) and an
invitation to perform at Women’s Empowerment, the state’s largest entertainment
and educational expo for African-American women. And then there’s the real glass
slipper: the invitation to the Rose Parade next New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif.
J
Not long after becoming band director in
2001, Jorim Reid wrote a 15-year plan that
envisioned a Rose Parade appearance, but he
didn’t intend to even submit an application
until near the end of that period. But the
band drew the eye of Rose Parade officials
who encouraged him to apply. Hundreds
of bands apply each year, but only 16 are
chosen, based on their musicianship,
marching ability and showmanship. For a
marching band, an invitation to Pasadena
is the ultimate recognition, and it offers a
chance to perform before an audience of
millions.
The Rose Parade is part of the Tournament
of Roses, an annual New Year’s celebration
that also includes the Rose Bowl football
game and a variety of special events in the
days leading up to Jan. 1. For the musicians,
the experience includes helping with float
preparation and performing at Bandfest
during the three days prior to New Year’s
Day. It is the opportunity of a lifetime
for band members, but it doesn’t come
cheap. Cost for the band’s participation
is approximately $2,000 per student and
NCCU has begun efforts to raise the
$500,000 needed.
When Reid took over nine years ago, the
band had just 30 members. Today, the
224-member Marching Sound Machine is
one of the largest student organizations
on campus, renowned for its showmanship
and a unique sound that incorporates drum
corps techniques, a pit percussion section,
and large dance and equipment auxiliaries.
The performances are explosive, but what
truly sets the band apart is musicianship,
which Reid emphasizes above all else. “It’s
all about their skill as musicians,” he says.
“We don’t want to blast our audience, but
rather engage them with a high-quality
listening experience.”
“Engage them” would be an understatement,
though, to describe what happened at
the Battle of the Bands at the Georgia
Dome. Carlton Wright, band director at
Minor High School in Birmingham, Ala.,
described the performance this way: “Your
students were by far the best band in the
stadium. Everything about your program
was of the kind of class and quality that all
HBCU programs should strive for.”
For 12 minutes, the Marching Sound
Machine took the crowd of 65,000 on a ride
through time, using the music of Michael
Jackson, and making stops in the ’80s and
’90s. “I knew we had a good show, but you
never know until you perform in front of
people,” said Turquoise Thompson, band
auxiliary captain. “My favorite part was the
auxiliary feature, ‘Poison’ by Bell Biv Devoe,”
she added. “We added a lot of stunts and a
battle of the sexes segment with five guys
from the drum line against the auxiliary
girls. It went back and forward. … You
could say we won, even though we came
together at the end.” The wild ride came to a
32 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
stop with Jay-Z’s “D.O.A (Death of Auto-
Tune),” but not before the band brought the
audience to tears with a powerful tribute to
the Haitian earthquake survivors.
��It was the students’ idea,” said Reid. “A
lot of people were reaching out to help, and
we wanted to do our part.” Band members
selected Michael Jackson’s, “Earth Song”
as their tribute. With its poignant chorus,
“What about us?” the song was the concert
selection, or ballad, of the performance.
“This was the first tragedy of the New Year,”
Thompson said, “and it was so sad. There is
no way you could see that terrible footage
on the news and do nothing.” The tribute
encouraged the audience to support Haiti
as it rebuilds.
The Battle of the Bands appearance was the
fifth and final one for Thompson, coming
just a few months before her graduation
with a degree in public administration. A
well-liked and respected band member,
Thompson understands the universal nature
of music. “Music lets you express yourself
— it speaks every language,” she said. “We
use what we are good at to honor someone
else.”
And the performance has stayed with her.
“Sometimes you wish you could be trapped
in a moment, and that’s how this felt. The
arrangement was beautiful; you could feel
Mr. Reid’s heart and soul in it. It is hard
to imagine that you contributed to that
feeling — amazing,” she said.
For band staff member Bryan Henry, the
friendly competition and excitement are
the heart of the band experience. Henry
is one of seven band staff members that
support the Marching Sound Machine,
carrying equipment and attending all
the practices. A tuba player as well, he
performed at the Battle of the Bands last
year. “It’s the Super Bowl for bands, and I
thank Honda for this experience,” he said. A
mass communication major from Durham,
Henry documented the band’s preparation,
blogging and posting weekly videos, which
he considers great practice for his intended
career as a sports commentator.
Perhaps Thompson sums up this past
year best. “It was all worth it, even the
numb fingertips in January from hours of
practice,” she said. “In the end you know
that you accomplished so much when you
hear the reaction from the audience.”
Now Magazine 33
34 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Although minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are often
grouped together, the differences among them defy simple
characterization. Within the mix of MSIs, historically
black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play a crucial role
in ensuring access and success for black students, and many
of these students are from low-wealth and educationally
disadvantaged backgrounds. As chancellor of the nation’s
first public liberal arts college for African-Americans, I am
convinced that HBCUs have played and must continue to
play a pivotal role in American higher education.
HBCU
Reconstruction
By Charlie Nelms, Chancellor
with assistance from Cynthia Fobert, director of Public Relations
Now Magazine 35
Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
In the two decades from 1984 to 2004, the
minority student population in the United
States grew by 146 percent to about 5
million, one-third of all college students.
But the distribution of these students has
been far from random across the spectrum of
American higher education. An increasing
number of colleges and universities have
been founded as, or transformed into,
minority-serving institutions. MSIs
account for approximately one-third of all
colleges and universities — a total of 1,254
institutions in 2004 — but they enroll
nearly 60 percent, or 3 million, of America’s
minority students.
To be classified as an MSI, a college must
have a minority student body representation
of at least 25 percent. In nearly all MSIs
with a 50 percent or greater minority student
population, there is one dominant ethnic
designation. Hence, we have Hispanic-serving
institutions, predominately black
institutions, tribal colleges and universities,
and Alaska native / native Hawaiian
institutions. Primarily, the growth of MSIs
has been among institutions serving blacks
outside of the HBCUs and those serving
Hispanic students. The number of black-serving,
non-HBCUs more than doubled
and the number of Hispanic-serving
colleges and universities increased more
than six-fold from 1984 to 2004.
The nation’s 103 HBCUs cannot increase
in number, as they are by definition those
colleges established prior to 1964 for the
purpose of educating African-Americans.
But just look at what they accomplish.
Although HBCUs represent approximately
three percent of the higher education
institutions, they enroll 12 percent of all
African-American students and they are
the source for 30 percent of all baccalaureate
degrees; 40 percent of all STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
degrees; and 60 percent of all engineering
degrees awarded to black students. In the
sciences, for black graduates who later
earn a Ph.D., 18 of the top 23 referring
institutions are HBCUs, and two dozen
HBCUs graduate 24 percent of all black
Ph.D. candidates. In addition, HBCUs
produce half of all black teachers and 40
percent of all African-American health
professionals.
Doing More With Less
Certainly, this small group of colleges
continues to serve its historic mission to
enroll and graduate a large proportion of
this traditionally disenfranchised minority.
In so doing, they add substantially to
our nation’s economic development by
contributing to the growth of the African-
American middle class. Furthermore,
HBCUs manage to do all this despite their
low wealth. In my state of North Carolina,
the median endowment among our ten
HBCUs in 2006 was $2,183 per full-time
equivalent student, compared with $17,579
at our state’s non-HBCU institutions.
HBCUs have always had to do more with
much less, but still they are criticized
for their graduation rates. The six-year
graduation rate for African-American
students in 2006 was an admittedly
disappointing 37.9 percent, compared with
45 percent for non-HBCU institutions.
However, the statistical mean obscures the
wide variation among these institutions.
In fact, the variation among HBCUs was
greater than between HBCUs and non-
HBCUs. For example, today, top-ranked
HBCU Spelman College has a graduation
rate of 74 percent, whereas the current
graduation rate of Edward Waters College
is 9 percent. This is not a fair comparison.
Edward Waters’ admissions requirements
include a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and no
minimum ACT or SAT scores. Spelman’s
freshman class has an average GPA of 3.61,
an average ACT of 23 and an average SAT
score of 1078 (out of a possible 1600 —
Critical Reading and Math portions only).
The incoming student at Edward Waters
is much less likely to be prepared for the
rigors of college coursework than the high-achieving
high school graduate entering
Spelman.
36
Now Magazine 37
Furthermore, with an endowment of $350
million, Spelman is much better able to
support its low-income students and thereby
reduce the impact of the major cause of
college withdrawal: insufficient financial
support. Edward Waters is struggling to
cope with $2 million in debt.
At the other end of the spectrum, it is
equally unfair to compare Spelman, ranked
by U.S. News & World Report as the best
HBCU, to Harvard, ranked the best
university in the country. Yes, Harvard
graduates 95 percent of its
African-American students,
but the students it admits are
extraordinarily high performers
to begin with — and once they
arrive on campus, Harvard’s $36
billion endowment ensures that
they get all the support they
need.
The Way Forward
This is not to say that
satisfactory graduation rates can
be achieved only with students
who are fully prepared for
the rigors of university. Arne
Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education,
spoke to the assembled HBCU presidents
and chancellors for the White House
Initiative on Historically Black Colleges
and Universities in September 2009. He
singled out for praise the respectable 51
percent graduation rate achieved by North
Carolina’s Elizabeth City State University.
ECSU admission requirements include
a minimum SAT score of 700 (out of a
possible 1600 — Critical Reading and
Math portions only), an ACT score of 16,
and a GPA of 2.5. Its endowment is less
than $4.5 million and it recruits low-wealth
students from the rural eastern townships
of North Carolina. Duncan attributed
ECSU’s feat to systematically tracking
students’ progress and intervening when
problems arise.
Herein lies the secret to ECSU’s success
and our collective way forward — enabling
systems of accountability. Many HBCUs
lack the capacity to conduct institutional
research, particularly the evaluation of
program effectiveness. This means that
decisions regarding student enrollment
management and retention efforts are
made without good data or adherence
to best practices. What we need are the
assessment protocols, the human and fiscal
resources, and the tools that will allow for
the collection, analysis, and dissemination
of pertinent information about what works
and what does not. Good quality data and
data analysis will positively affect retention,
graduation rates, and policy decisions,
especially those regarding funding.
HBCUs continue to enroll disproportionate
numbers of less wealthy and less-prepared
students, but there has never been a
wholehearted commitment on the part
of the states or the federal government
to their continued existence. A number
of these institutions teeter on the brink
of financial collapse, starved of financial
support. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
was never fully enforced with regard
to equal funding for HBCU facilities,
infrastructure, technology, or human
resources. HBCUs prick the conscience
of the majority, for some, serving to give
rise to feelings of ambivalence, guilt, and
even hostility. However, it seems likely that
changing demographics may overwhelm
these old prejudices as the United States
becomes more diverse. HBCUs have never
discriminated and are poised to become
the best hope for access and success for all
disenfranchised populations, irrespective of
race and ethnicity.
The future of HBCUs will be determined
by their competitiveness, responsiveness,
and relevance. At a minimum, we must do
the following:
• Visionary, experience-based leadership
is crucial. We must recruit and retain the
best.
• We must strengthen our infrastructure,
with regard to technology and facilities,
human and fiscal resources, as well as
internal controls and processes.
• We must reexamine the curriculum to
ensure optimal responsiveness to student
interests and societal needs.
• Each institution must put in place an
outcomes-based program of continuous
improvement focusing on retention and
graduation.
• We must attract and retain
faculty members who are willing
to invest more than the usual time
and talent to help students achieve
their potential. These must be
active researchers who involve
and mentor their students — an
engaged faculty who will facilitate
learning.
• Alumni must embrace
philanthropy and give at whatever
level they can afford. And they
cannot be expected to do so if they
are never asked.
• Public and private funders must commit
to fully underwriting HBCUs as an essential
part of a national strategy to develop
American intellectual capital and sustain
our economy. Local, state and national
governments, corporations, and foundations
must adopt a new national funding strategy
to strengthen HBCU academic programs
and the infrastructure to support them —
an HBCU reconstruction plan, if you will.
I am just one of hundreds of thousands
of HBCU success stories. My test scores
certainly did not suggest that I was
leadership material when I entered the
Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and
Normal College (now the University of
Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1965. Had
it not been for the open access of a low-wealth
HBCU, my life would have been
profoundly different. HBCUs have proven
their worth. Now, we need a revitalized
mission and reinvestment strategy that
recognizes that fact.
Author’s note: North Carolina Central University
will host a symposium titled Setting the Agenda for
Historically Black Colleges and Universities as part
of its Centennial Celebration in June 2 – 4, 2010.
“What we need are the assessment
protocols, the human and fiscal
resources, and the tools that will
allow for the collection, analysis,
and dissemination of pertinent
information about what works and
what does not.”
38 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
BUILDING
THE COMMUNITY By Chantal Winston
orth Carolina Central University is
not only building up campus, but
also building homes in the Durham
community.
“I don’t think it’s accidental or coincidental
that our motto is ‘Truth and Service.’ We are
in search of truth and want to make sure we
offer service to the community that made
it possible for us to exist,” said Chancellor
Charlie Nelms.
In collaboration with Habitat for Humanity
of Durham, NCCU has built its second
Eagle Habitat Home in the Eagle Village
Community. The 1,193-square-foot home,
including three bedrooms, two bathrooms
and a porch, was built for Tijuanda Farrington
and her daughter, Constance.
N
On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January
18, NCCU celebrated with a ground-breaking
ceremony at 615 Hickory St. in
Durham. U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, Durham
Mayor William “Bill” Bell and State Rep.
Larry Hall were in attendance.
The recipient of the home has been
employed in NCCU’s James E. Shepard
Library since 1996. Farrington was born
in Chapel Hill and raised by her late
great-grandparents, Joseph and Frances
Barbee. Her daughter Constance is 14 and
a ninth grader at Northern High School.
Constance is very active in the school
and community, serving as a member of
several organizations including the step
team, Praise and Worship, Teens Against
Consuming Alcohol, and Delta Academy.
“My initial thoughts were, this is surreal,”
Farrington said, recalling when she learned
that she had been chosen. “I was in shock
and couldn’t believe that this was really
happening. I started to tell myself, ‘Oh
my goodness, you’re going to become a
homeowner!’”
There are several homeownership require-ments,
including U.S. citizenship or legal
permanent residency, having lived and/or
worked in Durham for at least six months,
steady employment, and willingness to
devote 250 to 350 hours helping volunteers
build the home.
Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity
International is a nonprofit, ecumenical
Christian housing ministry, seeking to
eliminate poverty and homelessness from
the world and to make decent shelter
a matter of conscience and action. To
accomplish these goals, volunteers build
houses in partnership with families in
need.
Today, Habitat has built over 350,000
houses around the world, providing
more than 1.75 million people in 3,000
communities with safe, decent, affordable
shelter. The Durham Habitat group
completed its first home in 1987. Since
then, it has built more than 200.
Habitat is not a giveaway program.
Recipients must provide a down payment
and monthly mortgage payments. The
monthly payments are used to build future
Habitat houses.
“The NCCU-Habitat partnership began
under the leadership of Dr. James Ammons,
former NCCU chancellor, who served
on the Habitat for Humanity’s Board of
Advisors,” said Mitzi Viola, director of
Development and Community at Habitat
for Humanity — Durham. “NCCU had
the idea, formed a committee and invited
us to talk.”
After two years of fundraising, NCCU
and Habitat completed its first Eagle
Habitat Home for Michelle Nixon and her
daughter, Lyshell Harris, on February 14,
2009. “The community is pretty quiet and
I like my neighbors and the neighborhood
church,” said Nixon.
“With the construction of our second Eagle
Habitat Home, we are now building on a
tradition,” said Ruby Messick, assistant
director of the Academic Community
Service Learning Program at NCCU.
“Our continued involvement in the Eagle
Habitat House Project puts NCCU
students, faculty and staff at the forefront
of helping transform our community —
contributing to the safety and stability
in the neighborhoods surrounding our
campus.”
Eagle Village was the overall name given
to the neighborhoods surrounding the
NCCU campus in 1997 when the Eagle
Village Community Development Corp.
was created. The corporation serves as a
coordinator of efforts by the university, the
city of Durham and other organizations
to improve housing and the quality of
life for the area, and promote economic
development.
An average of 10 to 20 volunteers —
students, faculty and staff — work four-hour
shifts three days per week for about
15 weeks to complete a new Eagle Habitat
Home.
A one-time grant from the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development
provided much of the money to build the
Farrington home, but funds will have to be
raised locally for future Habitat homes. The
university is collecting contributions for a
third Eagle Habitat Home for next year. To
make a gift, visit <http://www.nccu.edu/
Giving/eaglehabitat.cfm>.
Now Magazine 39
Tijuanda Farrington and her daughter, Constance
40 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Dr. Lorna Harris set ambitious goals
when she came to North Carolina Central
University as chair of the Department of
Nursing in 2005. They included raising
the profile of the nursing program to
encourage funding from UNC General
Administration to support the program’s
growth. Specifically, she wanted to hire
13 fulltime teaching faculty, establish
four tenure-track positions for doctoral-prepared
professors and create an office of
student support.
Five years later, Harris and her department
have exceeded their goals. There are now 21
fulltime members of the teaching faculty,
including seven with doctorates. A student
support staff prepares students for the
working world with interview coaching and
professionalism luncheons. But the growth
does not stop there.
On Feb. 24, NCCU took a huge step toward
even greater nursing excellence by breaking
ground on a $22.5 million, 65,000-square-foot
nursing building. The design includes
facilities for expanded student services,
a 250-seat auditorium, a group of skill
labs and a family room for students with
children.
The skill labs will simulate
a hospital setting, enabling
students to build confidence
and competence as they
learn to use equipment,
practice positioning patients
and carry out nursing
procedures.
“Nursing is a proactive
discipline, and unless you have adequate
time and room to practice, you can’t
learn your craft,” said Harris. The patient
simulation rooms will have programmed,
computerized mannequins that function as
true patients would. “The mannequins have
real medical needs based around real-life
scenarios,” said Harris, “including their life
expectancy.”
The new building will pave the way to
enrollment growth that will not only
continue to increase diversity in the nursing
field but also help address a serious statewide
shortage of nurses. According to the N.C.
Center for Public Policy Research, North
Carolina will face a shortage of 9,000 nurses
in the next five years and 18,000 by 2020.
Last year, 509 students were enrolled in
the NCCU nursing program, up 4 percent
from 2007. This makes NCCU one of the
largest producers of minority baccalaureate
nursing graduates in the state.
Students also have an opportunity to gain
clinical experience in any of 50 different
area agencies. Working with real patients in
area hospitals like Rex, UNC, and Duke as
well as those in Person County and Rocky
Mount complete the training process.
The training is not confined to just
classroom, lab and clinic, though. The
Office of Student Support, run by a
fulltime counselor and a graduate-trained
coordinator, provides pre-nursing
engagement sessions and professionalism
luncheons. “We want our students to come
off as cultured professionals,” Harris said.
“This helps when they go for interviews so
they look and sound as great as they are.”
Last year’s graduates passed the state’s
nursing exam on the first try at a rate of 90
percent, easily exceeding the UNC General
Administration’s minimum rate of 85
percent for first-time test takers. “We are
excited to have outstanding students here,”
said Harris, “and we work hard to give them
the attention and education they deserve.”
From 2006 to 2008, the NCCU nursing
program had an 84 percent
on-time graduation rate,
one of the highest among
four-year institutions in
North Carolina.
An expanding array of
nursing educational op-tions
is helping NCCU
recruit and retain new
students. The Department
of Nursing recently estab-lished
an RN-BSN On-Line Hybrid
program, which leads to a Bachelor of
Science in Nursing (BSN) degree for
students who already have the Registered
Nurse credential. And a new Accelerated
Second Degree BSN program allows
Exceeding
Expectations
By Myra Wooten
“Nursing is a proactive discipline,
and unless you have adequate time
and room to practice, you can’t
learn your craft,” said Harris.
An artist’s rendering of the future NCCU Nursing building
41
students to earn their degree in 16 months
instead of the traditional 24.
The online program works with five
community colleges, such as Halifax
Community College in eastern North
Carolina, and area hospitals to recruit
students. The most recent recruiting effort
identified 102 nurses interested in the
program.
Dr. Jennie De Gagne, distance education
coordinator, oversees the online program.
“Students who come into this program are
already licensed nursing professionals with
careers,” she said. “It is difficult for this
population to come to a brick-and-mortar
class, so we are reaching out to adult learners.
Online teaching and learning is the future,
and we need to support the faculty in order
to be effective in this method of teaching.”
Six students in the inaugural class of the
accelerated second-degree program are
now in their last semester of nursing.
The program, which starts each January,
admitted 21 students in early 2010, the
maximum the program can support, and
now has a wait list for January 2011. “These
are people who finished college somewhere
else, or have degrees outside of nursing,”
said Harris.
Another important nursing initiative is
the HBCU Health Promotion Alliance,
which involves NCCU and three other
universities, N.C. A&T State, Fayetteville
State and Elizabeth City State. It focuses
on addressing cultural differences in access
to health education and health care. The
Alliance has brought in $2.5 million for
community-based research and services and
has established the NCCU / N.C. Breast
and Cervical Cancer Control Partnership.
The partnership is developing a curriculum
to educate nursing students and practicing
nurses on basic information on prevention
of breast and cervical cancer. Darlene Street
and Adrian Heath serve as staff for the
program and hope the model will be used
by other nursing schools.
Harris remains ambitious in her vision for
the nursing department. The immediate
goals, she said, are to “get the building up
by fall 2011 and increase the number of
students in the upper division to 250 to
match the size of the new building.” Long-term,
Harris would like to see a master’s
nursing program. “The faculty has worked
hard, the students have worked hard and
after four years we are starting to see the
fruits of our labor — good nurses who
understand the culture of North Carolina
and the need to be ahead of the curve when
it comes to nursing knowledge.”
Now Magazine
Last year’s graduates passed
the state’s nursing exam on the
first try at a rate of 90 percent,
easily exceeding the UNC
General Administration’s
minimum rate of 85 percent
for first-time test takers.
42 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Those were the days when students did not go and
come freely the way they do now. To leave the campus
you had to have permission. Dean Rush — I don’t
remember her first name — was the one with the
power. She said when you go and when you come.
We attended vespers service on Sunday afternoon,
and that was mandatory. You had a special seat in
B.N. Duke Auditorium. Dean Rush would walk the
aisle and check the seats. She knew who was present
and who was absent, and you’d better not be absent.
I don’t remember what would happen (if a student
was absent.) I was never absent — not without
permission at least.
Vivian Hunter, ’43 B.S., Commerce
LookingBack
Now Magazine 43
ClassNotes
Promotions and
Appointments
Harvey Heartley Sr. (B.S.),
of Raleigh, was inducted into
the CIAA John B. McLendon
Hall of Fame.
Samuel “Sam” Jones (B.S.),
of St. Augustine, Fla., was
honored with the Lifetime
Achievement Award by the National Black
College Alumni Hall of Fame Foundation.
Ernie Barnes (B.A.), of
West Hollywood, Calif.,
was inducted posthumously
into the National Black College Alumni
Hall of Fame Foundation for his stellar
contribution to the arts.
James Fullwood (B.S.), of
Raleigh, was honored in 2009
at Cape Fear Community
College for his life and work in the
Probation and Parole program in North
Carolina.
Andre’ Leon Talley, of New York City, will
be the fourth judge on the upcoming season
in 2010 of the popular show “America’s
Next Top Model with Tyra Banks.”
Roger McLean (B.S.) is the
mayor of Elizabeth City, N.C.
Gwen Willis (B.A. and M.A.), of
Greensboro, has been named chief of
student services for Guilford County
Schools.
Dorothy Brower (B.S.), of
Southern Pines, N.C., has
been honored by the Durham
Tech Foundation for her 35 years of
service at Durham Technical Community
College with the naming of a scholarship
in her honor. The first Dorothy A. Brower
Scholarship for high school graduates of
Moore, Orange and Durham County high
schools will be awarded in the fall of 2010.
Dr. Pocahontas Jones (B.S.),
of Henrico, N.C., was named
chief academic officer and
dean of curriculum programs at Roanoke
Chowan Community College in Ahoskie,
N.C.
Elmira Mangum (B.S.), of
Carrboro, has joined the staff
of Cornell University as vice
president for budget and planning.
William Smith (B.A.), of Durham, joined
the staff of Elizabeth City State University
as vice chancellor for institutional
advancement.
James “Jim” Holland (MBA),
of Richmond, Va., has been
elected vice chairman of the
Chesterfield County, Virginia, Board of
Supervisors.
Dr. Joan Koonce (B.S.), of Athens, Ga.,
released a new book, Integrity in a Box of
Chocolates: Consuming Life’s Hardships One
Bite at a Time. The book opens on the
stage of The Ohio State University, where
Koonce accepted her third college degree.
She shared her story and led a discussion
about her book at Borders Books in Athens
in February. She is an associate professor
at the University of Georgia’s College of
Family and Consumer Sciences.
Dr. William J. Barber II
(B.A.), pastor of Greenleaf
Christian Church in
Goldsboro and president of the North
Carolina NAACP, received the Human
Rights Medalist Award from N.C. A&T
State University in recognition of his efforts
to correct social injustice.
Warachel Faison, M.D (B.S.) of
Summerville, S.C., was recognized during
B l a c k H i s t o r y Mon t h a s o n e o f
four African-American champions of
Alzheimer’s disease by the National
Alzheimer’s Association. A geriatric
psychiatrist, she has furthered research
for prevention and a cure; made strides
in care and support; and raised awareness
of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Faison serves
as a medical director in Neuroscience
Primary Care at Pfizer Inc. An advocate of
community education and active discussion,
she participated in the Alzheimer’s
Association Diversity Dialogue at the
Alzheimer’s Action Summit in Washington
in March.
Dr. Sharon Elliott-Bynum
(BSN), of Durham, was
honored with the 2010
NCCU Nursing Distinguished Alumni
Award at the 14th Annual Helen S. Miller
Lectureship & Luncheon for Nursing.
Shinika McKiever (MPA)
was named the first program
associate and fellow at the
Kate B. Reynolds Charitable
Trust in Winston-Salem. The two-year
fellowship will provide a broad range of
experiences in philanthropy.
Trudy Mathis Jarman, of Jacksonville,
N.C., who studied psychology at NCCU,
is working on the third installment to
her self-published “Braids” novels, which
chronicle the lives of three families from
different backgrounds on the fictional
plantation of Quinnton Meadows in 1937
North Carolina. In 1999, Jarman was
recognized on the nationally syndicated
Tom Joyner radio show as a “Thursday
Morning Mom” for dedicating eight years
as the sole caretaker of her aunt who was
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
’55
’57
’60
’70
’71
’73
’75
’77
’83
’85
’93
’07
By Anita B. Walton
44 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
’30s Carson H. Beckwith (B.S. ’33), of
Charlotte, Sept. 9, 2009. Beckwith worked
at Bands Beauty College.
’40s Donald Murphy (B.A. ’46, J.D. ’73), of
Greensboro, Nov. 20, 2009. Murphy was an
attorney.
Carl S. Galbreath (BSC ’49), of Fayetteville,
Dec. 16, 2009. Galbreath worked at 71st
High School.
’50s McKinley J.H. Armstrong (B.A. ’51),
of Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2010.
Armstrong led the basketball team at
McKinley Tech to dominance.
Greta A. Avent (B.A. ’53), of Raleigh, Feb.
10, 2010. Avent worked for the Wake
County Public Schools.
Margaret B. Pollard (B.S. ’54), of Moncure,
N.C., Sept. 29, 2009. Pollard worked at the
Wake Area Health Education Center.
Marcus Ingram (B.S.C. ’58), of Durham,
Jan. 28, 2010. Ingram was a long-time
professor in the School of Business at
NCCU.
’60s Leonard Deshield (B.A. ’61), of
Greensboro, Nov. 6, 2009. DeShield was
the chief of protocol of the Republic of
Liberia.
Marvin E. Duncan, Ph.D. (B.A. and
M.A., ’62 & ’63), of Durham, Jan. 24, 2010.
Duncan was a professor in the School of
Education at North Carolina Central
University.
Carlton E. Fellers (B.S.C. ’63), of Raleigh,
Dec. 4, 2009. Fellers was an attorney at
Thigpen, Blue, Stephen Fellers.
Anne H. Streeter (’63), of Washington,
D.C., Oct. 12, 2009. Streeter worked at the
National Coalition Building Institute.
Betty D. Ruffin (’65), of Durham, Nov. 9,
2009. Ruffin retired from the Golden Belt
Manufacturing Co.
’70s Jasper Harris (B.A. ’70), of Durham, Oct.
7, 2009. Harris was co-chair of the NCCU
Department of Environmental, Earth and
Geospacial Sciences and the director of the
Summer Ventures Program at NCCU.
Kenneth “Ken” L. Clemons (B.A. ’71),
of Durham, Dec. 13, 2009. Clemons was
employed by Durham Public Schools as
an education specialist and coordinator of
cable services.
Gweneth Russell Harrelson (’72), of
Greensboro, Nov. 30, 2009. Harrelson
served for 29 years at Central North
Carolina School for the Deaf.
Annie O. Newsome (M.A. ’72), of
Goldsboro, N.C., Jan. 20, 2010. Newsome
worked at Goldsboro Junior High School.
Constance Roberson (’72 & ’82 (B.A.)
of Durham, NC, Sept. 6, 2009. Roberson
was director of student activities and the
student union at NCCU.
Johnnie Mack Arrington (B.A. ’74), of
Durham, Dec. 18, 2009. Arrington was an
employee at C R England, Inc.
Howard C. McGlohon (J.D. ’76), of
Asheville, Feb. 10, 2010. McGlohon
worked at Broughton Hospital before
starting his own practice.
Elson Armstrong (B.A. ’77), of Charlotte,
March 5, 2010.
Stanley A. Richardson (B.S.C. ’78), of
Elizabethtown, N.C., March 10, 2010.
Richardson worked at Public Instruction/
Board of Education, Bladen County
Shelton L. White (B.A. ’79), of Durham,
Dec. 10, 2009. White worked at Duke
University.
’80s Earl Whitted, Jr. (B.A. ’81, J.D. ’84), of
Wayne County, N.C., Jan. 4, 2010. Whitted
was a former member of the City Council
and Board of Aldermen.
Harold R. Hoke (J.D. ’84) of New
London, N.C., Sept. 29, 2009. Hoke was
an attorney.
Kenneth R. Diggins (B.B.A. ’85), of
Raleigh, Feb. 4, 2010. Diggins was the
owner of East Coast Promotional Products,
a partner with Faucon Blu Marketing
Communications.
Regina M. Crooms (B.A. ’87), of Raleigh,
Nov. 2, 2009. Crooms worked at Burroughs
Wellcome (now part of GlaxoSmithKline).
Minora V. Sharpe (B.A. ’89), of State
College, Pa., March 2, 2010.
’90s Joel Natalie Owens (B.S. ’94), of Durham,
Dec. 15, 2009. Owens was pursuing a
second degree.
Paul L. Suggs (’94), of Fayetteville, Jan. 8,
2010. Suggs was a former SGA president
at NCCU.
’00s Cassandra J. Freeman (B.A. ’08), of
Durham, Dec. 2, 2009.
Unknown Grad Year Ida Gadsden, of Savannah, Ga., Nov. 26,
2009
Christopher M. Hensley, of Raleigh, Dec.
1, 2009
George B. Parks of Bakersfield, Calif., Jan.
5, 2010. Parks owned Parks & Associates.
In Memoriam
Now Magazine 45
SUBMIT YOUR CLASS NOTES
Class Notes Policy Class notes must come first hand from the graduates who have news, a death, birth, or marriage to report. Please send in your
information as soon as you have something to share. We welcome news that is no more than a year old.
Photo Acceptance Policy Photos will be accepted in these formats: print or digital. You may email your Class Notes photos to publicrelations@
nccu.edu or mail them to the address at the bottom of this form. We reserve the right to determine the usage of the images submitted based on
quality, space, and content.
CLASS NOTE: Please fill out completely.
Name: ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Class of __________________________
Spouse’s Name: _________________________________________________________________________ Alumnus? ____No____Yes Class of __________
Address: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Email Address: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Telephone: Home (_____) ________________________________________ Office (_____) _________________________________________
Birth: _____Son _____Daughter Child’s Name __________________________________________________________________________________________
Marriage: ______ Date: ___________________________________________ (Please do not send prior to marriage.)
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Return this form with your news or story idea to the following address: North Carolina Central University
Office of Alumni Relations Toll Free: 866-479-2721
2223 Fayetteville Street Fax: (919) 560-5864
Durham, NC 27707 Email: publicrelations@nccu.edu
46 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Gifts
to the University
LEROI MOORE FUND WILL PROVIDE 4
ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS
By Brian Culbreath
A trust set up by musician LeRoi H. Moore before his death
will provide $5,000 scholarships for four North Carolina Central
University students each year in perpetuity.
A founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, Moore played
all the saxophones from bass to soprano, as well as flute, bass
clarinet, pennywhistle and oboe. Credited with arranging much
of the Dave Matthews Band’s music, he traversed jazz, funk, rock
and classical styles to make what Matthews characterized as “the
most astonishingly honest music.”
Born in Durham and raised in the Charlottesville, Va., area,
Moore died in 2008 from injuries suffered in an ATV accident at
his farm near Charlottesville. He was 46 years old. The NCCU
scholarships are in honor of his parents, both NCCU alumni,
Roxie Holloway Moore (’50) and Albert P. Moore (’56).
The scholarships will start in 2010 with a single $5,000 gift and
will increase annually by $5,000 until reaching a total annual
$20,000 payout in 2013. When fully funded, the scholarships
will be awarded to one student in each of the first, second, third,
and fourth-year classes. Criteria for selection will be students
with a financial need, and those whose studies are focused in
business, education, or music. Consideration also will be given
to the student’s community service involvement.
As a young man in Charlottesville, Moore established a
reputation as an accomplished jazz musician, co-founding the
Charlottesville Swing Orchestra and the John D’earth Quintet.
In 1991, he and childhood friend Carter Beauford joined up
with Dave Matthews and, subsequently, Stefan Lessard and
Boyd Tinsley, to form the Dave Matthews Band. The band
dedicated its latest album, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux
King,” to Moore.
Moore was active in many philanthropic activities throughout
his life, and the trust he established ensures that his support of
his favored organizations will continue. In addition to NCCU,
scholarship programs have been established in his name at
Albemarle High School in Virginia and at the University of
Virginia School of Nursing. Moore’s fund will also make annual
contributions to Toys for Tots, Habitat for Humanity, the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Blue Ridge Area
Food Bank.
“LeRoi was one of the most generous people I have ever met,
although he was very private about it,” said Rit Venerus, trustee
of Moore’s estate. “It is great to see that his legacy of giving will
live on.”
Now Magazine 47
NORTH CAROLINA MUTUAL GIVES ITS
HISTORIC ARCHIVES TO NCCU / DUKE
By Dr. Kimberly Moore, Public Relations and External Affairs
for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., the nation’s largest
and oldest life insurance company with roots in the African-
American community, transferred its collection of historic
archives to North Carolina Central University and Duke
University in a ceremony on September 25, 2009. The collection
highlights the historic role the company has played in Durham
and nationally in African-American commerce.
The documents will be housed in Duke’s Library Service Center,
an off-site location that serves both universities. The collection
will be referred to as “The North Carolina Mutual Collection.”
The collection includes thousands of business documents,
newsletters, commercials and photographs, as well as books
written about the company and its founders. It also contains
historical information about the families of two company
founders, John Merrick and Dr. Aaron M. Moore, as well as
trailblazer and corporate icon Charles C. Spaulding.
The collection will be administered jointly by the NCCU
Archives, Records and History Center and the Duke University
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library in
conjunction with the John Hope Franklin Research Center for
African and African American History and Culture.
“Thanks to the diligence, attention to detail and dedication of
employees for more than a century, North Carolina Mutual’s
history has been exceptionally well documented and preserved,”
said James H. Speed Jr., president and CEO of the company.
“Our board of directors felt the archives should be where
they can best be maintained and preserved. North Carolina
Central University and Duke University have the facilities and
the professional personnel to continue a tradition of historic
preservation that began in 1898.”
Historical connections between N.C. Mutual, NCCU and Duke
make this archive arrangement particularly significant. Dr. James
E. Shepard, who founded NCCU in 1909, was also one of the
seven men who founded the insurance company 11 years earlier.
John Merrick, another N.C. Mutual founder, worked closely
with Benjamin Duke, whose family established Duke University.
In 1966, Duke University donated the land for N.C. Mutual’s
headquarters building. In the first half of the 20th Century,
N.C. Mutual was one of the financial institutions clustered in
downtown Durham that made Parrish Street famous as “the
Black Wall Street.”
Today, N.C. Mutual offers a wide array of insurance products,
including life, health and dental coverage through group plans
for large and small organizations. It has more than 300,000
individual policyholders and more than $7.7 billion of insurance
in force.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT GIFTS TO THE
UNIVERSITY
Curtis Lee Dobbs Memorial Endowment Fund
Robert L. Dobbs (’60) established the fund in honor of his son,
who was a freshman at Hunter College in New York when he
died in 1985 at the age of 18. The $50,000 fund will provide
scholarship support to sophomores, juniors, or seniors who are
track and field athletes and who have maintained a grade-point
average of 3.0 or better.
Averner Blue Jr. Memorial Endowed Scholarship
Fund
An anonymous donor has given $25,000 to the fund to
provide scholarship support to males enrolled in the College of
Behavioral and Social Sciences with a major in criminal justice.
Distinguished Nursing Professorship
The C.D. Spangler Foundation and the UNC General
Administration have each committed $250,000 to endow a
Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Nursing.
A. Nan Freeland Endowed Scholarship Fund
The N.C. Environmental Justice Network and the N.C.
Conservation Network pledged $25,000 to establish the A. Nan
Freeland Endowed Scholarship Fund to provide support for
undergraduates with financial need. The recipients will be rising
juniors or seniors majoring in environmental science.
Xerox Corp. Foundation
Xerox contributed $20,000 to support student scholarships.
The company has now given $110,000 to the university for
scholarships since 2005.
SunTrust Bank
The bank has committed to provide $20,000 to sponsor a lecture
series at the School of Business. The sponsorship will give the
university and the School of Business the ability to present
distinguished and national and international lecturers, exposing
our students to a world beyond the textbooks.
Estate Gifts
The estate of Winnie Cornelia T. Robinson established the
Leonard Harrison Robinson Fund in memory of Mrs. Robinson’s
late husband, to compensate distinguished speakers in sociology.
The estate of Clifton E. Johnson established a gift to the NCCU
School of Law.
48 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Donor Honor Roll
The James E. Shepard Society
recognizes NCCU’s most loyal
donors. Membership in the
James

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NOW c e n t e n n i a l e d i t i o n NCCU
A partnership with
NASA takes NCCU
to new heights
A magazine for the Faculty, Alumni, and Friends
of North Carolina Central University
SUMMER 2010
the
Heart and Soul
of NCCU
26
30
Sports
News
12
Redefining what
it means to be an
HBCU in 2010
34
3
8
12
19
21
26
30
34
38
40
43
46 Gifts to the University
The Shepard Legacy
Charter Day Opens Year
of Centennial Celebrations
Sports: Did You Know?
Defining Success
Campus News
NCCU & NASA
Marching Sound Machine
— Heart and Soul
HBCU Reconstruction
Building the Community
Exceeding Expectations
Class Notes
ON THE COVER
The Hoey Administration Building,
circa 1950s on the left and
present day on the right
Contents
Now Magazine 1
2 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Contributors
Chancellor
Charlie Nelms
Vice Chancellor of
Institutional Advancement
LaTanya D. Afolayan
Editorial
Cynthia Fobert
Robert L. Waters
Class Notes
Anita B. Walton
Sports Editor
Kyle Serba
Photography and Illustration
Robert Lawson
Brian Culbreath
University Archives
Writers
Paul Brown
Brian Culbreath
Cynthia Fobert
Dr. Kimberly Moore
Charlie Nelms
Kyle Serba
Anita Walton
Chantal Winston
Myra Wooten
Design and Layout
Brian Culbreath
NCCU Now magazine is published by North
Carolina Central University Office of Public
Relations, 1801 Fayetteville Street, Durham,
NC 27707. Phone: (919) 530-6295 E-mail:
Please send address
corrections to the Alumni Relations Office,
2223 Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC 27707.
Persons or corporations interested in purchasing
advertising space in the NCCU Now magazine
should contact Cynthia Fobert, director of
Public Relations, .
At a cost of $0.91 each, 25,000 copies of this
public document were printed for a total of
$22,752.64 in Spring 2010.
NCCU is accredited by the Commission on
Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools to award baccalaureate, master’s,
education specialist, and doctoral degrees.
Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866
Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097
or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the
accreditation of NCCU.
Copyright 2010, North Carolina Central
University.
Letter from the Chancellor
Dear Alumni and Friends:
Welcome to the Centennial Edition of the NCCU NOW.
During this Centennial Year, beginning with Charter Day last June
30, we’ve held art exhibits by artists Ruth Russell Williams, James
Biggers, Ernie Barnes, and photo-journalist Alex Rivera. We’ve
heard lectures from authors Michele Bowen, Hill Harper, Patricia
Russell-McCloud, Ben Carson, Steve Perry, and Rebecca Skloot.
And now, we’re looking forward to Tom Joyner as speaker for our
Centennial Commencement on May 15.
In our Centennial Year, U.S. News & World Report ranked NCCU the
best public HBCU in the country and for the second year in a row,
our Law School was ranked the No. 1 Best Value Law School in the
Nation based on affordability, bar passage rate and job placement.
And of course, the Alumni Association plays a vital role in this
success. The Southern Regional Education Board report released
April 14, included NCCU among a select group of 15 institutions
across the country that evidenced best practices in achieving
student success. In part, they attribute our achievement to the
fact that NCCU alumni “serve on advisory committees, speak to
classes, are involved in student activities, provide part-time jobs,
and connect students with community service opportunities. They
serve as role models for degree completion — the clear sign of
success for both the university and its students.”
These are some of the ways that alumni, friends and retirees can be
of immeasurable service to the university and to the future graduates
of NCCU. I am proud to be among you and NCCU is proud of
you.
Enjoy this complimentary edition of the alumni magazine.
Sincerely,
Charlie Nelms
Chancellor
Now Magazine 3
The By Paul V. Brown Jr. Shepard
Legacy
f James Edward Shepard’s
statue in front of Hoey
Administration Building could
somehow come to life and
creak its metal neck southward, the
university founder would enjoy the
sight of a public school that bears his
name, the Shepard Magnet Middle
School. And if he wheeled just a bit to
the right, he would see W.G. Pearson
Elementary School. He’d recognize
the name: William Gaston Pearson
helped Shepard incorporate his
college in 1909 (it opened for classes
the next year), sat on the college’s
board of directors for many years and
was Shepard’s partner in a host of
other academic and civic projects.
If the gray-hued head could tilt
skyward at night, Shepard might
catch sight of a space shuttle passing
overhead. Physics students and
professors at the school that the
visionary educator and religious
and civic leader founded a century
ago are helping NASA expand the
boundaries of space exploration.
That’s not all. Graduates of what first
was named the National Religious
Training School and Chautauqua
have become doctors, nurses and
college professors. Shepard’s school
has launched noteworthy performers,
artists and athletes. Political leaders,
judges and prominent lawyers got
their start in the legal profession at
North Carolina Central University.
Scholars and administrators con-nected
to the university have advised
U.S. presidents.
I
“By every account, Dr. Shepard set his
sights astronomically high for the school
and its students when he planned the
National Religious School,” said Charlie
Nelms, chancellor of NCCU. “But it’s
hard to overstate how much of an impact
the school has had on the advancement of
Durham and North Carolina, the nation
and in many respects, the entire globe.”
If students are the measure of a university
— and they must be — North Carolina
Central University is a clear success. Says
one of Nelms’ predecessors, noted civil rights
lawyer and alumnus Julius Chambers (’58),
“If you look at it [NCCU] in the fashion of
how it has provided an opportunity for
minorities to get a college degree, and
how it has attracted students based on
its reputation, that’s one important
impact. It has been long known as a
quality institution, a university that
prepares one to go out into the world
and make a difference.”
The school shares some key features
with other historically African-
American schools in the nation. Dr.
Frank W. Hale Jr., professor emeritus
at The Ohio State University and
author of “How Black Colleges
Empower Black Students: Lessons for
Higher Education,” notes that NCCU
was closely connected with the black
community in which it was situated.
Its professors and administrators
offered “very valuable role models”
to its young students. Its admission
policies were more flexible, and
administrators were more willing to
look at “quality” factors — leadership
in high school, or whether a youngster
had to work outside the home — in addition
to “quantity” factors such as college exam
scores. The result: African-Americans had a
better chance of pursuing a college degree.
Shepard’s school had an immediate impact
on its community, in large part because of
Shepard himself. His own influence, in fact,
extended far beyond the tobacco-scented
streets of Durham.
Shepard was born in Raleigh in 1875,
the eldest of 12 children of a noted
Baptist pastor. He received a degree in
pharmacy from Shaw University in 1894
and soon began practicing the profession
in Durham. At just 30 years old, he took
a position with the International Sunday
School Association that sent him traveling
across the nation and the world in support
of a standardized Christian education
curriculum across denominational lines. In
1910, he was the only African-American
speaker at the World Sunday School
Convention in Rome.
That experience and the Chautauqua
movement — the large gatherings, usually
in rural communities in summer, for
education and cultural experiences in camp-like
settings �� helped mold Shepard’s ideas
for his college. He raised the funds to open
the school from contributors in and outside
of North Carolina.
The school is Shepard’s best-known public
contribution, but by no means his only
one. Even before the school opened, he
had helped launch two enduring Durham
institutions: North Carolina Mutual Life
Insurance Co., founded in 1898; and
Mechanics & Farmers Bank, opened in
1908. Mutual grew into the largest black-owned
insurance company in the world.
And Mechanics & Farmers played a key
role in the finances of African-American
families and businesses in an era when
minorities found it all but impossible to
obtain loans from white-owned banks.
Shepard also had a hand in the formation of
the Durham Committee on the Affairs of
Black People, one of the most potent local
political organizations in the Southeast.
Over time, Durham evolved into a more
hospitable place for African-Americans to
live than most other Southern cities, in no
small part because of the role of NCCU,
the financial institutions, the Durham
Committee and the efforts of black leaders.
A business district along downtown Parrish
Street was known widely as “the Black Wall
Street.” And the college functioned as a
kind of assembly line that could turn poor,
rural youngsters into educated members of
the black middle class, and in turn, move
members of the middle class into upper
economic classes.
Shepard, whose philosophy of black
advancement was more aligned with
the moderate views of W.E.B. DuBois
than with the more radical voices of
the era, was a sought-after speaker. He
commented on important topics of the
day on statewide and national radio
programs. He was asked to testify on
tax policy before the Ways and Means
Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1943. The following
year, his article “The Challenge Of The
South” ran in Negro Digest magazine
alongside articles penned by DuBois
and actor Orson Welles.
World War I diverted precious
resources and contributions from the
school. In need of funding, Shepard
was able to gain state support for the
school in 1923, and two years later,
it was renamed the North Carolina
College for Negroes. The state funding
was a long-sought goal of Shepard’s; he
was a staunch fighter for government
support of African-American
education. In 1972, NCCU became
one of the 16 constituent campuses of the
University of North Carolina system.
Throughout its history, the school played an
outsized role in the academic and cultural
life of Durham, and of the African-
American community in particular.
Important leaders, scholars and performers
visited the campus. Vivian (Spence Guice)
Hunter, who received her Bachelor of
Science in commerce in 1943, remembers
a performance by Marian Anderson, the
world-renowned opera singer. W.E.B.
DuBois and Mary McLeod Bethune,
giants in the early civil rights struggle, also
came to the Durham campus.
4 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Now Magazine 5
If students are the
measure of a university
— and they must be —
North Carolina Central
University is a clear
success.
6 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph
was a guest in Dr. Shepard’s home, built
across Fayetteville Street from the school.
So was first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The
first commencement speaker, in 1911, was
Wendell P. Stafford, an associate justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court. Two decades later,
the chief justice of the North Carolina
Supreme Court, H.P. Stacy, delivered the
graduation keynote.
NCCU “was an oasis for the black
intelligentsia,” said Dr. Leonard L.
Haynes III, executive director of the
White House Initiative on Historically
Black Colleges and Universities from
2007 to 2009 and now senior advisor in
the office of the assistant secretary for
post-secondary education.
NCCU’s economic impact, on Durham
and the state, is substantial and growing. A
recent report by the City of Durham noted
that the university employed nearly 1,500
people and pumped nearly $60 million
a year in payroll alone into the region’s
economy. The school’s near-term building
plans amounted to more than $212 million,
another massive injection into the area’s
jobs and retail fortunes. Research grants
and funded projects added approximately
$68 million to the tally. Then there are the
8,500 students in NCCU degree programs;
they bring their own spending to Durham’s
stores, supermarkets, gas stations and
restaurants.
By mid-century, NCCU was producing
luminaries of its own. Julius Chambers,
after graduating with a B.A. in history
in 1958, went on to earn a law degree at
UNC-Chapel Hill and became one of
the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers,
successfully litigating a number of key cases
before the U.S. Supreme Court. John Hope
Franklin, the late historian and author of
From Slavery to Freedom, a groundbreaking
work on African-American history, taught
at NCCU and at a number of other HBCU
and mainline universities. He exported
NCCU’s expertise, too, teaching students in
England, China and Australia. He headed
President Bill Clinton’s task force on race
in the late 1990s.
A contemporary of Franklin’s, Dr. Helen
G. Edmonds, lectured at 87 American
colleges and universities, and in institutions
in Sweden, Germany and Liberia. In 1957,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed
her as his representative to the dedication
of the new capital building in Monrovia,
Liberia. She made a lesser-known visit
to the White House two decades later, as
President Gerald Ford revealed in a speech
on the NCCU campus in November 1975.
“Dr. Edmonds met with me shortly after I
assumed the presidency and eloquently told
me some of the concerns and aspirations
of blacks and of women,” Ford said. “As
President of all the people, these concerns
are my concerns. These aspirations are my
aspirations.”
The late Ivan Dixon (Drama, ’54), though
best known for his role in the sitcom
“Hogan’s Heroes,” was also a director and
producer, and served as president of Negro
Actors for Action, a civil rights group.
Dr. Leroy Walker, a track coach at NCCU
and later its chancellor (he also chaired
the Physical Education and Recreation
Department), was the first black U.S.
Olympics Committee president. He led
NCCU track and field athletes to a series
of Olympic appearances. Less known is
that he also coached teams from Israel,
Ethiopia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica
and Kenya.
Alumni Eva Clayton (M.A., ’63) and
G.K. Butterfield (Law, ’74) have gone to
Washington as representatives of North
Carolina’s First Congressional District.
Dan Blue Jr. (math, ’70) was Speaker of the
N.C. House of Representatives from 1991
to 1994, the first African-American to hold
that position. After serving 22 years in that
body, he now represents Wake County in
the State Senate. Mike Easley, a graduate
of NCCU’s School of Law, was North
Carolina’s attorney general in the 1990s
and governor from 2001 to 2009.
One hundred years after the founding of
the National Religious Training School
and Chautauqua, Shepard’s institution is a
full-grown university, exerting its impact on
Durham, the state and the world on a vastly
greater scale. Its science and biomedical
programs, for example, produce cutting-edge
research. Its Institute for Homeland
Security and Workforce Development,
created after the 9/11 attacks, helps educate
emergency workers and the public about
homeland security and disaster preparedness.
NCCU’s international studies and exchange
programs attract students from more than
a dozen countries, including India, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, Nepal, China, the Czech
Republic, Nigeria, South Korea, Russia, the
Dominican Republic, Mexico and South
Africa.
Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook has a particularly
good perch from which to judge NCCU’s
impact over the years. Before serving as
president of Dillard University in New
Orleans from 1974 to 1997, Cook spent
part of his early career — from 1966 until
1974 — teaching political science at Duke
University.
“I remember when it was North Carolina
College for Negroes, officially,” Cook
recalled in an interview. “North Carolina
Central University over the years has been
one of our flagship institutions. Without
question. And one of the best, top-flight
institutions under the supervision and
control of black people. Of the public ones,
perhaps at the top.”
To Cook, that is extraordinary in light of
the obstacles faced by Shepard and his early
successors.
“It obviously didn’t have the resources of
a UNC or an N.C. State,” he said. “It had
to operate, as Dr. Shepard would say, with
short grass. But how it operated on the
short grass was miraculous.”
“One hundred years after the founding of the National
Religious Training School and Chautauqua, Shepard’s
institution is a full-grown university, exerting its
impact on Durham, the state and the world on a
vastly greater scale.”
Now Magazine 7
“It obviously didn’t have
the resources of a UNC or
an N.C. State. It had to
operate, as Dr. Shepard
would say, with short
grass. But how it operated
on the short grass was
miraculous.”
– Samuel DuBois Cook
NCCU inaugurated its Centennial
Year with a Bell-Ringing Ceremony,
followed by an observance at B.N. Duke
Auditorium, on Charter Day, the 100th
anniversary of the day the school was
officially incorporated on June 30, 1909.
Chancellor Charlie Nelms spoke of the
symbolic significance of the bell in the
African-American community and
the special place Shepard’s Bell holds
in the hearts of alumni and former
faculty and staff. Here is an excerpt
from his speech.
“We begin our observance with
the ringing of this bell because
historically, the bell holds special
significance in this country,
particularly for the African-
American community. The
most famous, our nation’s
Liberty Bell, became a
symbol of hope and freedom
even before the signing
of the Declaration of
Independence. It bears
the inscription from the
Book of Leviticus (25:10),
“Proclaim LIBERTY
throughout all the
Land unto all of the
inhabitants thereof.”
The image of the
Liberty Bell and its
inscription were
adopted and printed
on the campaign
materials for
William Lloyd
G a r r i s o n ’ s
A b o l i t i o n i s t
Mo v eme n t .
So beginning
in the 1830s,
the bell was associated with freedom from
slavery.
“At the last stop on the Underground
Railroad, in a small community called
Buxton, Ontario, a bell would sound
whenever there was a new, dark-skinned
arrival from the Southern states. That
bell had been a gift from “the colored
inhabitants of Pittsburgh” to the Buxton
conspirator, the Reverend William King. It
still chimes today in Buxton’s St. Andrews
Church steeple.
“Beginning in 1910, Shepard’s Bell sounded
a note of hope for a better future in the stifled
atmosphere of oppression of Jim Crow
segregation. This bell signaled opportunity,
but also certainty, as it tolled like clockwork,
letting the students know they were drawing
nearer to a better life every hour of every
day. And if you listen well, you will hear
that NCCU’s bell still holds the promise of
a better life through education.
“In honor of the Founder, Dr. James E.
Shepard, I will ring this bell.”
Following Chancellor Nelms, Dr. Arthrell
Sanders, alumna and retired professor,
sounded the bell in honor of all faculty and
staff of the institution, and Dwayne Johnson,
student government association president
for the Centennial Year, was called upon to
ring the bell to represent all students.
Chancellor Nelms closed with a stanza
of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, In
Memoriam.
“Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.”
CHARTER DAY OPENS
YEAR OF CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATIONS By Cynthia Fobert and Myra Wooten
Now Magazine 9
In a filled B.N. Duke Auditorium after
the ceremony, guest speaker and alumnus
Dudley E. Flood offered a humorous
look at life on campus in the 1950s, and
particularly the “Spirit of NCC.” He said
the “Spirit” was about the students relying
on one other to get through and learning
how to comport themselves to succeed in
the wider world. He said they were also
instilled with the sense that “life would be
about service to humanity.”
Intermingled with the speeches and
the proclamations of Charter Day from
Durham Mayor Bill Bell and County
Commission Chairman Michael Page
were wonderful solos performed by NCCU
music major Jasmyn Cooper and by Richard
Banks, assistant professor in the Music
Department.
In a dramatic moment, descendants and
family members of the original signers
of the Charter of Incorporation of the
National Religious Training School and
Chautauqua for the Colored Race, the
precursor of North Carolina Central
University, rose and signed a replica of the
document on stage.
The original incorporators included Dr.
James E. Shepard, founder; Professor
William G. Pearson, principal of Hillside
Park High School; physicians Charles
H. Shepard and Aaron M. Moore; and
John Merrick, president, and Charles C.
Spaulding, general manager and secretary,
of the North Carolina Mutual & Provident
Association.
The descendants and family members
on stage included Isaac Hughes Green
Sr., great-grandson of James E. Shepard;
Charles Watts Jr. and Joseph M. Sansom,
great-grandsons of Aaron Moore and John
Merrick; Aaron L. Spaulding, namesake
and relative of Moore and C.C. Spaulding;
Clinton A. Shearin Sr., grandson of
Spaulding; Samuel A. Shepard Jr., a
relative of Shepard; and Eugene Turner,
grandnephew of William G. Pearson.
The following is an excerpt from Chancellor
Nelms’ Charter Day Speech in B.N. Duke
Auditorium.
“Too little has been said of the extraordinary
courage it took for Dr. James E. Shepard
and the other founders to engage in this
“Timothy McIntosh called the assembly to order by ringing the
same bell he sounded five times a day as a student from 1958
to 1962. McIntosh is a 1962 NCC graduate in mathematics
who says his job as bell-ringer helped support him through four
years of college. He was paid about $60 a month to ring the
bell five times a day — to wake the campus, then to announce
breakfast, first class, lunch, and dinner. He recalled that at 6
in the morning he was none too popular with the folks in the
residence halls closest to the bell!”
Timothy McIntosh and Arthrell Sanders pause for a
moment of silence on Charter Day, 2010.
10 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
act of defiance. June 30, 1909, was during
the depths of the great evil that was the
Jim Crow South. In that shameful time
in American history, Shepard signaled
disobedience and declared his hope and
faith in a better tomorrow by founding a
college for African-Americans. In 1909,
laws strictly controlled every aspect of the
life of a black person, from designating the
hospital room in which you could be born
to the plot of ground where you’d take your
final rest.
“And in no other realm of life was segregation
more pernicious than in education. In
1903, a North Carolina statute determined
that no child with ‘Negro blood in its veins,
however remote the strain, shall attend a
school for the white race, and no such child
shall be considered a white child.’
“Historians recount that an average of
two or three black men or women were
sadistically tortured and killed every week
in the American South from 1890 through
1917. After 1917, the rate slowed but never
stopped until well into my lifetime.
“And the lynch mobs were equal-opportunity
killers — the only qualifying
characteristic for the victims was the color
of their skin. So the rich and well-educated
like Shepard and the co-founders were just
as at risk as the poor and illiterate. But of
course, most black people were desperately
poor and illiterate, even in Durham, the
nation’s ‘Capital of the Black Middle
Class.’
“You see, there actually was a handful of
black people who owned their own homes
in Durham. But make no mistake: in 1910,
97 percent of African-Americans worked as
domestic or farm laborers, just a step or two
removed from slavery. It was a status quo
the white racists preferred to keep. We’re
so grateful they weren’t paying attention
as many of Durham’s fledgling middle
class built their modest bungalows in the
neighborhood surrounding this campus
called College View.
“They never came to visit! So they didn’t see
the elegant homes of the few wealthy blacks
residing in the heart of Hayti, a community
buttressed by White Rock Baptist Church,
St. Joseph’s African Methodist Episcopal
Church, Lincoln Hospital, Hillside High
School, the Stanford L. Warren Library and,
of course, this university. It’s miraculous
when you think about it — this island of
prosperity in a sea of despair.
“Shepard and the other founders offered us
a glimpse of what was possible — that there
could be another way of life. Who knows
to what extent the hope they engendered
through this glorious example inspired the
Civil Rights Movement that was to come?
Shepard and the founders were ahead of
their time. They knew then what we all
know now; that education was and is a key
to equality. Today, we honor that stroke of
genius enacted with the stroke of a pen.”
BELL REMINISCENCES
Dr. James E. Shepard served as president
of the school from 1910 until his death
in 1947. A student would ring the bell
to wake the campus in the morning, and
to announce meals, class changes and
assemblies. Shepard “was a stickler for
time,” said Robert Lawson, alumnus and
campus photographer. “The people in the
community set their watches by that bell.”
There was also a tradition of ringing the
bell after every sports victory.
Here are some recollections by those who
heard the bell and answered its call.
Maggie P. Bryant, teacher and
librarian in Creedmoor, and later
in Kannapolis
Maggie Bryant graduated from NCCU in
1938. As a student, she heard Thurgood
Marshall, Roland Hayes and Adam
Clayton Powell speak. “We had a Lyceum
The Charter Day re-enactment of the signing the Charter was conducted on stage at
B.N. Duke Auditorium.
event every week and the bell would ring to
let you know something was happening.”
Born in Rocky Mount, Bryant spent her
first semester at NCCU as a “boarding”
student, living on campus. She remembers
that the 6 a.m. bell was the call to rise and
head out to breakfast, where the meals were
served family-style — and “the football
boys would reach for everything.” “The
bell was always rung on time; that was the
most important thing.” It was particularly
important during the Depression to keep
up with the time of day, she recalls. “People
had to work, everyone worked and you
couldn’t afford to be late.”
Alfred Richardson, former
director of Alumni Relations
Alfred Richardson served as director of
Alumni Relations, major gifts officer,
director of the Historically Underutilized
Business Center, and chauffeur to former
President Alfonso Elder. According to
him, after a game victory, students gathered
around the bell and sang the “NCCU
Victory Hymn” also known as “Ring Dem
Bells.” “People in Durham would wait to
hear the bell rung after a game to be able
to share in the victory. A game victory at
Central was a victory for all of Durham.”
Richardson, Class of ’58, also remembers
the bell as the campus alarm clock. “It
started the day, not just for NCCU, but the
community. Some people would have been
late for work without the bell. During that
time, most people didn’t have wristwatches,
so you needed the bell.”
Richardson also remembers playing practical
jokes on the student whose job it was to
ring the bell by wrapping the clapper in
cloth. The unsuspecting student would pull
the bell cord and nothing would happen. “It
was all in fun,” said Richardson.
George Thorne, former vice
chancellor for Financial Affairs
In 1943, George Thorne lived in McLean
Dormitory, right next door to the bell
tower. He remembers hearing the bell every
morning and “all day long.” “The bell ringer
at the time was Clifton Simmons, we called
him ‘Pee-Wee,’” said Thorne.
Before email or social networks, NCCU
used the bell to stay connected to students.
“It was the only means of communication
from the administration to the general
student body. When you heard the bell, you
knew something important was going on.”
Dr. Walter M. Brown, former
dean of the School of Education
Walter Brown never heard the 6 a.m. wake-up
bell at NCCU; he attended the college
at the age of 16 as a “day student,” which
in today’s terms meant he was a commuter.
He remembers that alumni reunions
were as good a reason as any to “ring dem
bells.” “Spontaneous reunions happened
when alumni from outside the Durham
area would decide to meet at the bell
tower.” Sometimes fraternity and sorority
members would gather at the bell before
walking to their organization’s monuments
on campus.
And while NCCU now connects to
students through social networks, Brown is
a firm believer that “some rituals transcend
time. I would like to see it [the bell] brought
back and associated with special things —
like a church bell, when you hear it you
know something important has happened.
It is a tradition that NCCU students are
missing.”
A true Renaissance man, Brown was the
first to earn a Ph.D. from North Carolina
College, now NCCU — and the first
dean of the School of Education. Now
in retirement, he is a writer, consultant
and calligrapher. He recently completed a
memoir of his experiences at NCCU titled,
“I Walked the Sloping Hills.”
Ingrid Wicker-McCree,
Director of Athletics
When Dr. Ingrid Wicker-McCree came to
NCCU as the head volleyball and softball
coach in 1994, the bell was the sound of
victory. With a young team of students —
mostly freshman or sophomores, Wicker-
McCree continued the tradition of ringing
the bell after every win. “For the first six
years I was here, we would stop the van by
the bell tower and ring the bell.” To her,
the ringing of the bell after a victory is a
familiar sound, and one that she treasures.
Attending weekend games with her
parents, NCCU alumni Floyd and Evelyn
Wicker, she recalls, “It was an exciting place
to be. … The city of Durham embraced the
university.”
Now as director of Athletics, she hopes to
bring back the tradition of ringing the bell
and incorporate it as part of pre- or post-game
activities. “Traditions are important,
and while we have new coaches in athletics
who may not know about the tradition,
there are still plenty of people on campus
who understand the significance of the bell
tower.”
Danny Worthy,
assistant Athletics director —
Corporate Relations
By the time Danny Worthy came to NCCU,
the bell was rung only for special occasions
such as Homecoming and Founder’s Day,
but it still signaled to students that they
were a part of something much larger
than themselves. “We were taught about
the bell during freshman orientation. It
was important that we understood the
significance and history of it. When you
heard the bell rung, the first thing you
did is walk toward it, because you knew
that something was about to happen, an
announcement would be made.”
Now Magazine 11
NCCU Victory Hymn arranged by Charles Gilchrist,
former chair of the
Department of Music
Ring dem bells on NC’s campus
Let them ring as ne’er before
Bow down school now altogether
We will bring the victory home.
We will bring the victory home.
Where ever we may roam
Neath the sloping hills
and verdant green
Verse 2
Ring dem bells for our dear campus
Let them ring as ne’er before
Bow down school now altogether
We will bring the victory home.
We will bring the victory home.
Where ever we may roam
Neath the sloping hills
and verdant green.
“It started the day, not
just for NCCU, but the
community. Some people
would have been late for
work without the bell.”
12 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Sports NCCU Centennial History
Did You Know? By Kyle Serba
Lee Calhoun, 1956 and 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist
This “Did You Know” collection about
North Carolina Central University sports
history is drawn from a weekly series
produced by the Department of Athletics.
To see more of these facts, visit , the official web
site for NCCU Athletics. In the
Beginning…
DID YOU KNOW? The first
organized sport at NCCU was
baseball. The school fielded a squad
in 1911, the spring of its first
academic year.
According to a master’s thesis by
George L. Samuel, the student-athletes
on that team were Marion
Thompson, Clifton Gardner, James
R. Paterson, Benny Henderson,
Charles Paterson, Louis Hatsfield,
Bishop Faison, Samuel Saunders,
Moses Williams and Elmore Brown.
The coach was Louis “Mighty”
Bumpus, a local businessman.
Eagles Represented NCCU
in the Summer Olympic
Games for Two Decades
DID YOU KNOW? From 1956 to
1976, at least one student-athlete
from NCCU competed in every
Summer Olympics. All of them
competed under the direction of their
NCCU head coach, Dr. LeRoy T. Walker,
who served as head coach for the U.S. men’s
track and field team in 1976 and went on
to become the first African-American
president of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
At the 1956 Games in Melbourne,
Australia, Lee Calhoun won a gold medal
for the United States in the 110-meter
hurdles with a time of 13.5 seconds. Four
years later in Rome, Calhoun became the
first to capture consecutive Olympic gold
medals in the 110m hurdles (13.98).
In the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Edwin
Roberts earned bronze medals in both the
200m dash (20.63) and the 4x400m relay
(3:01.7) for Trinidad and Tobago, his native
country. Roberts ran the same events for
Trinidad and Tobago in the 1968 Games
in Mexico City, placing fourth in the 200m
dash and sixth in the 4x400m relay. NCCU’s
Norman Tate also competed in the Mexico
City Olympic Games in the triple jump.
At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Roberts
ran in his third straight Olympic Games
for Trinidad and Tobago in the 200m dash
and 4x400m relay (eighth place).
Three of his NCCU teammates
also competed in Munich. Larry
Black won a gold medal as the lead
leg of the American 4x100m relay
(38.19) and a silver medal in the
200m dash (20.19). Julius Sang and
Robert Ouko, representing their
home country of Kenya, earned gold
medals as part of the 4x400m relay
squad (2:59.83), while Sang added
a bronze medal in the 400m dash
(44.92).
In the 1976 Games in Montreal,
Charles Foster finished three-hundredths
of a second away from
a medal, placing fourth in the 110m
hurdles (13.41).
Lady Eagles Blaze Trails
in NCAA Cross-Country
History
DID YOU KNOW? On Nov.
4, 2006, NCCU became the first
HBCU (historically black college or
university) to advance to the NCAA
Division II Women’s Cross-Country
National Championships.
The Lady Eagles qualified for the national
event by winning the 2006 NCAA Division
II Southeast Regional Championship held
in Wingate, N.C. NCCU placed five
runners in the top 20 to take the team
Now Magazine 13
regional title. The Lady Eagles posted 61
points, easily outdistancing South Atlantic
Conference member Lincoln Memorial
University by 53 points.
Freshman Ashley Cooke (Hampton,
Va.), the CIAA Runner of the Year, led
the Lady Eagles by placing fifth with a
6K time of 23:57. It was a team effort for
NCCU, as junior Yolanda Barber (eighth,
24:18), senior Aisha Brown (14th, 24:31),
sophomore LaTanya Lesine (15th, 24:32)
and freshman Desinia Johnson (19th,
24:49) all finished in the top 20. Other
runners for NCCU were Erinn Brooks
(22nd, 25:13) and Lakisha Gantt (67th,
26:57).
The top 15 finishers earned All-Southeast
Region honors. NCCU led the way with
four runners (Cooke, Barber, Brown and
Lesine) on the All-Region team.
NCCU head coach Michael Lawson was
named Southeast Region Coach of the
Year after the meet. The NCCU women
then participated on the national stage on
Nov. 18, 2006, in Pensacola, Fla.
One of the First Pro Football
Players from an HBCU was an
NCCU Eagle
DID YOU KNOW? John Brown, who
played football at NCCU (then North
Carolina College) in the 1940s, was one of
the first to play professional football out of
a historically black college.
Brown shares the honor with Ezzret
Anderson of Kentucky State and Elmore
Harris of Morgan State, who all began
their professional football careers in 1947.
Brown and Anderson were teammates on
the Los Angeles Dons, while Harris was a
member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
According to NCCU records, Brown was
the first of the three to sign a professional
football contract. He played center and
linebacker with the Dons from 1947–49,
before moving to the Canadian Football
League.
Brown played for the NCC Eagles in
1940, 1942 and 1946–47, lettering in both
football and basketball. He was part of the
inaugural induction class of the NCCU
Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.
Matthews First Volleyball All-
American, National Player of the
Year for NCCU
DID YOU KNOW? Shari Matthews
became NCCU’s first volleyball All-
American when she was voted the 2006
NCAA Division II National Player of the
Year.
In just two seasons at NCCU (2006–07),
Matthews broke the school record for
career kills with 1,447 and career service
aces with 229, while also collecting 860
digs and 139 blocks.
A native of Barbados, Matthews was selected
as the 2006–07 and 2007–08 recipient of
the LeRoy T. Walker Medallion of Honor
as NCCU’s Female Student-Athlete of the
Year.
As a junior transfer, she led the nation
with an average of 6.37 kills and 0.92
service aces per game, breaking the NCAA
Division II record for kills in a season with
974. Matthews was named CIAA Player of
the Year and CIAA Championship Most
Valuable Player after guiding the team
to its third consecutive CIAA (Central
Intercollegiate Athletic Association)
championship title.
As a senior in 2007, her 473 kills and 89
service aces helped the Eagles to a 21–13
Diving for the end zone
14 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
overall record in their first season of
Division I competition.
NCCU Football Boasts Highest
Winning Percentage among
North Carolina HBCUs
DID YOU KNOW? Since 1945, the
North Carolina Central University football
program has the highest winning percentage
among HBCUs in North Carolina.
Since the end of World War II, the Eagles
have won 57.3 percent of their 648 games.
The overall record is 362 wins, 267 losses
and 19 ties.
The in-state HBCU football programs
with the next highest winning percentages
happen to be NCCU’s two biggest rivals,
Winston-Salem State and North Carolina
A&T State. The WSSU Rams have
won 54.8 percent of their contests, while
the N.C. A&T Aggies have a winning
percentage of 53.9 percent.
Boston Celtics Star Played at
NCCU before Hall of Fame NBA
Career
DID YOU KNOW? Boston Celtics star
Sam Jones, one of the greatest NBA players
of all time, is North Carolina Central
University’s second-leading career scorer.
Jones played at NCCU from 1951–54
and 1956–57, netting 1,745 points in
four seasons under head coaches John
McLendon and Floyd Brown.
A native of Wilmington, Jones was chosen
by the Celtics as the eighth overall pick in
the first round of the 1957 NBA Draft.
His 12-year career with the Celtics included
ten NBA Championships, five All-Star
Game appearances and three selections to
the All-NBA Second Team. Nicknamed
“Mr. Clutch,” Jones amassed 15,411 points
(an average of 17.7 per game), 4,305
rebounds and 2,209 assists in 871 contests.
He was inducted into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984,
and in 1996 was named among the top 50
players in NBA history.
Lady Eagles Rally from Last-
Place Regular-Season Finish
to Win CIAA Basketball
Championship
DID YOU KNOW? The 1983–84 NCCU
women’s basketball team ended the regular
season with a 9–17 overall record and a last-place
finish in the conference standings.
But two weeks later, after knocking off
Hampton, Winston-Salem State and
Shaw in the first three rounds of the CIAA
Tournament, the Lady Eagles capped a
remarkable run by defeating Virginia State
92–87 on Feb. 25, 1984, to win the school’s
first conference championship in a women’s
sport.
NCCU senior Jacqueline Pinnix topped
the team’s championship charge with a
tournament record 123 points in four games,
an average of 30.8 points per contest.
Members of the championship squad were
Terri Abel, Francis Barnhill, Wanda Bradley,
Robin Brooks, Renee Cohen, Brenda Cox,
Priscilla Herring, Monica Johnson, Mona
McLaurin, Linda Nicholson, Jacqueline
Pinnix, Diedra Solomon, Rena Sharpe,
Sharon Wheeler, Tynetta Williams. Yvonne
Edwards was the head coach and Ronald
Willie was the assistant coach.
Coach McLendon’s “Thousand-
Dollar Team” Won School’s First
Championship in 1941
DID YOU KNOW? Under the direction
of first-year head coach John B. McLendon,
the 1940–41 men’s basketball team won
the first championship in NCCU athletics
history.
McLendon called the 1941 Eagles his
“thousand-dollar team” because just before
he became head coach he turned down a
job at another school that would have paid
him $1,000 more.
The squad repaid their coach’s loyalty
by posting an unblemished 14–0 record
in CIAA play to earn the conference
championship. The Associated Negro Press
rated this edition of the Eagles as No. 1 in
the nation.
After its CIAA triumph, the team took on
other conference champions at an end-of-season
tournament in Cincinnati on March
22, 1941 — and played four games in a
single day.
The Eagles defeated three conference
champions, then lost a protested decision
to the fourth. NCCU defeated Clark
College (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference) 61–54 at 10 a.m., West
Virginia State College (West Virginia
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) 61–39
at 2 p.m., Kentucky State College (Midwest
Athletic Association) 43–37 at 7 p.m., and
lost to Southern University (Southwestern
Athletic Conference) 48–42 at 9 p.m.
The team was honored among the inaugural
induction class of the NCCU Athletic Hall
of Fame in 1984. By 1940s standards, the
Eagles had five giants, ranging in height
from 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-11. Team members
included James “Boogie” Hardy, Richard
“Dick” Mack, Floyd H. Brown, George
“Mighty” Mack, Leo Fine, Walter Womack,
William “Bill” Peerman, Rudolph “Rocky”
Roberson, Reginald “Hawk” Ennis, John
“Big” Brown, Norbert “Slim” Downing,
Harold “Slam” Colbert, Lee W. Smith,
Buford Allen, and Monroe Collins.
1941 Gridiron Eagles Receive
Shocking News on Train Ride
Back to Durham
DID YOU KNOW? As the North
Carolina College (now NCCU) Eagles
Elisha Marshall and Coach Michael Lawson
at the 2004 Hall of Fame Induction
were returning home on Dec. 7, 1941, from
playing Morris Brown in the black college
football national championship game in
Atlanta, the attack on Pearl Harbor was
announced during the train ride.
The day before, the Eagles suffered their
only loss of the season with a 7–6 setback
to Morris Brown in the Peach Blossom
Classic. NCC opened the season with
eight consecutive victories, including five
shutouts, followed by a scoreless tie against
Virginia State.
With the United States’ involvement in
World War II, the Eagles did not have
football teams in 1943 and 1944. The Eagles
returned to the gridiron for the 1945 season
and have played football every year since.
Elisha Marshall, NCCU’s First
Female National Champion
DID YOU KNOW? On May 23, 1998,
Elisha Marshall became the first female to
win a national championship in NCCU
history when she won the women’s
100-meter dash at the 1998 NCAA
Division II Outdoor Track and Field
Championships in Edwardsville, Ill.
A six-time All-American, the Fayetteville
native finished the race in 11.81 seconds
to earn recognition as the top women’s
100-meter sprinter in NCAA Division II.
“It was a perfect ending to my senior year,”
Marshall said moments after making
history. “First graduation, and now a
national championship.” Marshall was
inducted into the NCCU Athletic Hall of
Fame in 2004.
Since Marshall’s feat, two other Lady
Eagles have earned the top prize in national
competition. On March 9, 2002, Katerina
Glosova won the women’s 800-meter run
at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and
Field Championships in Boston. The senior
from the Czech Republic posted a winning
time of 2:08.73.
On May 26, 2006, Jessica Mills won the
women’s triple jump at the NCAA Division
II Outdoor Track and Field Championships
in Emporia, Kan. The New Jersey native
recorded the ninth-longest triple jump in
Division II Championship history with a
leap of 42 feet, 6.75 inches (12.97m).
Two Players Have Represented
NCCU at the Super Bowl
DID YOU KNOW? Two Eagles have
represented North Carolina Central
University on the National Football
League’s grandest stage — the Super
Bowl.
The first was Richard Sligh, a reserve tackle
with the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl
II against the Green Bay Packers on Jan.
14, 1968. Sligh, who holds the distinction
of being the tallest player in NFL history
(7-foot-0), played at NCCU from 1962-64
and was later drafted by the Raiders in the
10th round of the 1967 NFL draft.
On Jan. 24, 1982, former Eagle Louis
Breeden was a starting cornerback for the
Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI
against the San Francisco 49ers. Earlier
in the season (Nov. 8, 1981), Breeden
intercepted a pass thrown by San Diego
Now Magazine 15
1984 Women’s Basketball Team
09/02/10 vs. Johnson C. Smith
09/11/10 vs. Winston-Salem State
09/18/10 at Appalachian State
09/25/10 vs. North Carolina A&T
10/09/10 vs. Hampton University
10/16/10 at Georgia State
10/23/10 vs. Bethune Cookman
10/30/10 vs. Edward Waters
(Homecoming)
11/06/10 at Delaware State
11/13/10 at Savannah State
11/20/10 vs. Old Dominion
2010 NCCU
Football
Schedule
16
Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts and
returned it a team-record 102 yards for a
touchdown. The following year, he was
selected as a First-Team All-Pro.
A two-time all-conference pick during his
NCCU career from 1973–76, Breeden was
chosen by the Bengals in the seventh round
of the 1977 NFL draft. He completed his
10-year NFL career with 33 interceptions
for 558 return yards and two touchdowns.
NCCU Men’s Tennis Boasts 10
Conference Championships, Two
NAIA District Titles, NCAA
Regional Crown
DID YOU KNOW? The men’s tennis
program has won ten conference
championships. Only the Eagles football
program has captured as many league titles
as men’s tennis.
Under the direction of Dr. James W. Younge,
who coached the Eagles from 1949 to 1975,
NCCU recorded nine conference crowns,
including five in the CIAA and four in the
MEAC. The Eagles earned three straight
CIAA titles from 1957–59, followed by
back-to-back CIAA championships in
1964 and 1965. Younge’s squads dominated
the MEAC with four consecutive league
titles from 1972–75.
During Younge’s tenure, the Eagles
tennis program also captured the 1963
NCAA Eastern Regional Tournament
championship and NAIA District titles in
1970 and 1971.
The Eagles captured their tenth men’s
tennis conference championship in 1998, as
second-year coach David Nass guided the
team to the program’s sixth CIAA crown.
Roberson Breaks National
Scoring Record with 58 Points for
Eagles in 1943
DID YOU KNOW? On Feb. 20, 1943,
Rudolph “Rocky” Roberson broke the
men’s basketball national scoring record
with 58 points, leading NCCU (then North
Carolina College) to a 92–43 victory over
Shaw University.
Sportscaster Bill Stern’s coast-to-coast
report on Roberson’s feat marked the first
national recognition for an HBCU player.
In his record-setting performance, Roberson
made 25 field goals and eight free throws to
become only the second college basketball
player to reach the 50-point mark. The
first was Hank Luisetti of Stanford, who
scored 50 points against Duquesne on Jan.
1, 1938.
Sixty-seven years later, Roberson’s standard
still stands as the Eagles single-game
scoring record.
1963 Men’s Tennis Team
Visit http://www.nccueaglepride.com for
schedule updates and more information.
The men’s tennis program
has won ten conference
championships. Only the
Eagles football program has
captured as many league
titles as men’s tennis.
Now Magazine 17
TEAMS
1945–46 Men’s Basketball
1954 Football
1972 Men’s Track and Field
1972 Football
1988–89 Men’s Basketball
2006 Softball
2006 Women’s Cross–Country
2006 Football
2006 Women’s Volleyball
2006–07 Women’s Basketball
COACHES
Floyd H. Brown, men’s basketball, 1952–70
Michael Bernard, men’s basketball, 1985–91
Robert “Stonewall” Jackson, football, 1964–94
John B. McLendon, men’s basketball, 1940–52
Herman H. Riddick, football, 1945–64
George L. Quiett, football, 1968–72
Sandra T. Shuler, volleyball/athletics, 1966–93
LeRoy T. Walker, track and field, 1947–77
Ingrid Wicker–McCree, volleyball, 1994–
2005/softball 1994–98
James W. Younge, men’s tennis, 1949–1975
1988-89 Men’s Championship Basketball Team
An internet survey from July 20–Sept. 1, 2009, invited fans to vote for their top 10
teams, 10 coaches and 80 student-athletes to make up a list of 100 Sports Legends as part
of the university’s centennial celebration. Here are the results.
for NCCU’s Centennial 100Sports Legends
18 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Israel Allen, boxing, 1930s
Catherine Gamble Armwood, tennis/athletics, 1965–69
Rena Armwood, volleyball/softball, 1996–99/2006
Charles Bailey, football, 1969–72
John Baker, football, 1954–57
Ernest Barnes, football, 1956–59
Melvin Bassett, track and field, 1971–74
Tiona Beatty, basketball, 2000–04
Larry Black, track and field, 1969–74
Sophia Blue, softball, 2006–09
Evangela Niko Booker, cross–country/track and field, 1991–94
Willie Bradshaw, baseball, 1947–50
Louis Breeden, football, 1973–76
Brenda Brown, volleyball, 2002–05
John E. Brown, football/basketball, 1940–47
Stadford Brown, football, 2006–08
Lee Calhoun, track and field, 1952–56
Robert Clark, football, 1983–86
Miles Clarke, basketball, 1988–89
Lee O. Davis, basketball, 1964–68
Ron Draper, track and field, 1967–71
Harry J. Edmonds, baseball, 1940s
Charles Foster, track and field, 1971–75
Gerald Fraylon, football, 1981–84
Von Fulmore, basketball, 1984–87
Jerome Floyd Gantt, football, 1966–69
Brandon Gilbert, football, 2004–08
Katerina Glosova, cross–country/track and field, 1999–2002
Michelle Harrison, basketball/softball, 1993–98
Charles “Tex” Harrison, basketball, 1950–54
James Earl Harvey, football, 1985–88
William L. Hayes Sr., football, 1961–64
Willie J. Hayes, football, 1955–58
Harvey Heartley, basketball, 1951–55
Richard Hicks, football, 1959–62
Eric W. Hines, football, 1975–79
Charles D. Hinton, football, 1958–62
Harold Hunter, basketball, 1946–50
Jefferson Inmon, football, 1969–72
Luther R. Jeralds, football, 1957–60
Walter Johnson, track and field, 1958–61
Danielle Johnson–Webb, volleyball/basketball, 2000–05
Alex L. Jones, football, 1970–73
Ricardo Jones, tennis, 1973–75
Sam Jones, basketball, 1951–54/1956–57
Cassie King, basketball, 2003–07
Amba Kongolo, basketball, 1998–2002
Clarence E. Lightner, football, 1938–41
George K. Lipscomb, baseball, 1940s
Robert Little, basketball, 1971–75
Ted L. Manning, basketball, 1962–66
Elisha Marshall, track and field, 1994–98
Aaron Martin, football, 1960–63
Julian Martin, football, 1966–69
Robert Massey, football, 1985–88
Herman W. Mathews, football, 1966–69
Shari Matthews, volleyball, 2006–07
LeVelle Moton, basketball, 1992–96
Robert Okuo, track and field, 1972–74
Dwight Pettiford, football, 1971–74
Jacqueline Pinnix, basketball/volleyball, 1980–84
Alfred A. Poe, tennis, 1961–65
Greg Pruitt Jr., football, 2004–06
Ronald Ray, track and field, 1973–75
Edwin Roberts, track and field, 1962–66
Julius Sang, track and field, 1972–74
Pame Sawyer, basketball/volleyball, 1986–90
Joe Simmons, football, 1990–93
Jason Smoots, track and field, 1999–2003
Maurice Spencer, football, 1970–73
Stephanie Spindler, softball, 1997–99
Clarisse Steans, softball, 2004–06
Garvin L. Stone, football, 1969–72
Franklin E. Tate, football, 1971–74
Norman Tate, track and field, 1961–65
Zakia VanHoose, basketball, 1998–2002
Ernest Warlick, football/basketball, 1948–52
Davita Watson, volleyball, 1996–99
Doug Wilkerson, football, 1965, 1967–69
Joe Williams, tennis, 1962–66
Cassie King, basketball, 2003–07
STUDENT–ATHLETES
Now Magazine 19
uccess in college athletics is often
defined solely by wins, especially in
the form of championships.
In fact, North Carolina Central
University won 10 conference championships
during its final three seasons of competition
on the NCAA Division II level. Since the
beginning of NCCU’s transition into the
ranks of NCAA Division I in the fall of
2007, though, the competition has been
tougher and more experienced, and the
travel longer and more demanding. The
result has been more setbacks and fewer
post-game celebrations.
Still, while victories and league titles remain
the most visible form of achievement in
college sports, there is more than the final
score that can be used to determine a level
of success for an intercollegiate athletics
department.
Greater Visibility. The advancement
to Division I has provided a vehicle to
promote the University on a national scale
through the travel of its athletics teams.
Since the fall of 2007, Eagle student-athletes
have represented NCCU in 30
states. During those trips, the University
gained valuable exposure in areas of the
country that might otherwise never hear
about NCCU.
New Partnerships. The opposition has
changed too. Through athletic competition,
NCCU has now found itself associated with
the likes of Indiana, Rutgers, Nebraska,
Florida, Michigan, Miami, Arkansas,
Virginia Tech, Maryland, Kansas State, Air
Force, Navy and more. Within the state,
greater alliances have been formed with
opponents such as Duke, North Carolina,
N.C. State, Wake Forest, East Carolina,
Appalachian State and Elon.
Increased recognition as a Division I
program has also allowed the athletics
department to develop new partnerships
with area businesses. A drive for expanded
community service by second-year Director
of Athletics Ingrid Wicker-McCree has
placed NCCU student-athletes as role
models into neighborhoods surrounding
the Durham campus and beyond.
Improved Facilities. Within the past three
years, athletics facilities have undergone
several improvements. O’Kelly-Riddick
Stadium was transformed in 2009 with the
installation of artificial turf and a modern
video scoreboard. The tennis courts received
a fresh playing surface and new fencing,
and the baseball team now has a home at
the superbly renovated, historic Durham
Athletic Park, made famous in the award-winning
film Bull Durham.
Locker room facelifts have updated the
spaces for men’s and women’s basketball,
volleyball and football, while softball and
track and field teams now have locker
rooms to call their own.
Also, as a sign of the athletics department’s
sincere commitment to academics, the
weight room in McDougald–McLendon
Gymnasium was converted into a computer/
tutoring lab for all students.
Academic Achievement. The transition
to Division I has also allowed the athletics
department to significantly improve the
quality of academic support for its student-athletes.
Increased staffing has provided the
athletics department with its first full-time
staff member dedicated exclusively to the
academic well-being of student-athletes.
The enhanced level of academic support
and oversight has paid big dividends.
During the spring 2009 semester, more
than 30 percent of NCCU’s student-athletes
achieved a 3.0 grade point average
or higher, and 10 Eagles carried perfect 4.0
averages. Furthermore, within the past year,
71 student-athletes have graduated, earning
bachelor’s or master’s degrees.
So while the victories may not be piling up
at a rate similar to the days before the move
to Division I, Eagle fans still have plenty to
be proud of.
And it won’t be long before NCCU returns
to its winning ways in the Mid-Eastern
Athletic Conference.
Defining
Success More than the Final Score
S
By Kyle Serba
Now Magazine 21
Campus
NEWS
• U.S. News & World Report ranked NCCU as No. 10 in its list of
best HBCUs in the nation, and first among public HBCUs.
• The National Jurist magazine has now twice ranked the Law
School the Best-Value Law School in the Nation. Rankings are
based on affordability, bar passage rate and job placement.
• In December 2008, NCCU was awarded the Carnegie
Foundation Community Engagement Classification for both
Curricular Engagement, and Outreach and Partnerships, making
it one of only 120 campuses nationwide to earn the designation.
• NCCU was also selected for the President’s Higher Education
Community Service Honor Roll – 2008.
• NCCU achieved designation as a military-friendly school, as
defined by GIJobs.com.
Student Success
• The raising of the intellectual climate on campus has been a
high priority for this administration. To this purpose, high-profile
speakers such as 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad
Yunus and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. were invited to campus
to speak to students in 2009.
• College of Science and Technology students won prestigious
awards, including a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and the
American Association for Cancer Research Thomas J. Bardos
Science Education Award for Undergraduate Students.
• The College of Science and Technology held its inaugural
Undergraduate Research Symposium last spring. The keynote
speaker was Dr. Amanda C. Bryant-Friedrich, an NCCU alumna
who is now associate professor of Medicinal and Biological
Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Toledo.
More than 30 students showcased their research through oral and
poster presentations.
• Students in the Nursing Department have earned an average
passage rate of 90 percent over the last three years on the NCLEX,
the state nursing examination.
• Our Jazz Ensemble performed at the famous Newport Jazz
Festival in Newport, R.I., with artist-in-residence Branford
Marsalis.
• Our Marching Sound Machine was chosen to perform at the
Honda Battle of the Bands in Atlanta for the sixth straight time.
• The Marching Sound Machine was also selected for the 2011
Tournament of Roses Parade.
Customer Service
• As part of the Quality Service Initiative (QSI), a customer-service
training program, customer service kudos or complaints may be
shared online through NCCU Listens. Entries are forwarded to
the parties that can best respond to them within 24 hours.
• The Division of Student Affairs initiated procedural changes that
enhanced responsiveness in admissions and developed an online
application for Graduate Studies. Student Affairs also launched
StudentCentral, in which students are guaranteed a callback within
24 hours in response to any expressed concern.
Commendations
• The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaccreditation
process was completed in December 2009, with the university
having its accreditation reaffirmed for 10 years. A pilot program
for the SACS-inspired Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), called
Communicating To Succeed, was begun last fall with about 150
new students attending Dimensions of Learning and English
Composition courses. Those students will be tracked to measure
their success in future speaking and writing-intensive courses.
Major components of the QEP, the Writing Studio and the
Speaking Lab, are up and running. The effectiveness of these efforts
will be evaluated, and the results used to fine-tune the strategy for
eventual expansion across campus. The goal is to make exceptional
oral and written skill the standard for NCCU graduates.
• In 2009, the Nursing Department added the Accelerated Second-
Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program to its offerings.
• The Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and Tourism
Administration continues to provide workers
for North Carolina’s growing hospitality
and tourism industry. The program
maintains an average enrollment of about
130 students. In an effort to boost this
number, the degree was offered online
starting in August 2009, with an
initial enrollment of 23 students. The
Master of Business Administration
with a concentration in Hospitality
and Services Management will be
offered in the fall of 2010.
• University College has become a hub
of academic advising, supplemental
instruction and tutoring to facilitate a
smooth transition from high school
to college and to ensure student
success. Initial results are
encouraging. The
freshman-to-sophomore retention rate increased from 68 to 77
percent after the first year of the program.
• The Centennial Scholars Program was created to support the
retention and graduation of African-American males.
Construction on Campus
• NCCU has begun to upgrade recreational facilities and advocate
for new ones. Lighting has been installed on the track so students
can walk or run at night. Hours have been expanded at the LeRoy
T. Walker Physical Education and Recreation Complex, and
$11.5 million was set aside to renovate fitness spaces and replace
antiquated equipment. The project is scheduled for completion in
December.
• Ground was broken Feb. 24, 2010, on the 65,000-square-foot
nursing building. The $22.5 million facility will include a
250-seat auditorium, a large skills lab and a family room
for students with children. Completion is scheduled for
July 2011. To make room for the new nursing building,
the historic Holy Cross Catholic Church was moved
to Fayetteville Street beside the Shepard House and
repurposed as a meeting space for NCCU and the
community.
• Currently, many staff and students must resort to
on-street parking. Inadequate street lighting makes
for an uncomfortable walk at night, and the cars are
a source of irritation to our neighbors. This concern
will be alleviated significantly by the construction of
the Latham Parking Deck, which will cost $15 million
and provide parking for 750 vehicles. At ground level, the
building will also contain a coffee shop, bookstore and police
substation. Completion is scheduled for August 2010.
• NCCU has begun construction of the $30
million Chidley North Residence Hall,
with completion planned for May
2011. It will offer 520 beds and
will complement the existing
Chidley Main, which will
be renovated as soon as
possible. It will help address
the shortage of campus
housing. There are now
just 2,291 housing spaces
on campus, not enough to
accommodate even the first-priority
students, freshmen
and sophomores. Renovation
of Chidley Main, once funds
become available, would add
198 more beds.
• Space is being renovated
for a communications center
New Academic Programs
Continued on pg. 25
Now Magazine 23
5 Priorities
Merit and Need-Based Financial Aid
Global Opportunities
Attracting Quality Faculty
College Readiness and Outreach
Campus Beautification
Go to: http://www.nccu.edu/giveonline
Invest in the Vision
Katherine Gavin
Senior | Business Major
24 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
is heading to the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade and
we need your support. Contact the Office of Institutional
Advancement to find out how your conribution can help.
(919) 530-6151 | http://www.nccu.edu/giveonline
Now Magazine 25
for campus police, including an outdoor public notification system.
The total investment is $900,000.
• Through the Academic Community Service Learning Program
(ACSLP), students provide tutoring services in six local public
schools.
• In fall 2009, in collaboration with the City of Durham, ACSLP
managed a Fayetteville Street cleanup, deploying more than 1,200
volunteers, including 750 students.
• On Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2010, NCCU began construction
of a second Habitat for Humanity residence in the nearby Eagle
Village neighborhood.
• Also supported by ACSLP, the Eagle Pride Blood Drive achieved
record donations again in 2009. Several hundred students were
tested for sickle cell anemia and recruited for the bone marrow
registry.
Memberships and Accreditations
• The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) invited NCCU
to join the conference as its 13th member effective July 1, 2010.
• The National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission
reaffirmed the accreditation of the Department of Nursing.
• The Environmental Science degree program was awarded full six-year
accreditation by the National Environmental Health Science
and Protection Accreditation Council.
• The Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality
Administration accredited the Hospitality and Tourism
Administration Program. NCCU is the only HBCU so accredited
and offers one of only two such programs in the state.
• Geography and Earth Sciences in the Department of
Environmental, Earth, and Geospatial Sciences gained membership
in the University Consortium for Geographic Information
Science.
Grants
• The College of Science and Technology received more than $20
million in outside funding for grants, contracts and cooperative
research agreements. The largest single awards were $5 million
each for the Computational Center for Fundamental and Applied
Science (an NSF Center for Research Excellence in Science and
Technology) and the NASA Center for Aerospace Device Research
and Education (NASA-CADRE). Senior investigators from five
CST departments are conducting research and mentoring students
in these centers.
• The NCCU Department of Criminal Justice and the Institute
for Homeland Security & Workforce Development have received
a $902,000 grant through a partnership with the Rural Domestic
Preparedness Consortium. NCCU is one of only five academic
institutions across the nation to join the consortium as a full
partner.
• BRITE External research funding reached $1.2 million in
2009. BRITE researchers have submitted three provisional patent
applications, and two more are in the works.
• The School of Library and Information Sciences received a
second grant from the Laura Bush 21st Century Library Program
in the amount of $856,000. The purpose is to increase the number
of minority students in the SLIS program.
• The Special Education Department was awarded two federal
grants from the U.S. Department of Education: $795,000 for
Expanding the Re-ED Model: Preparing Teacher Counselors for
Tier III Students from Diverse Communities (2007-2011); and
$525,080 for Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Services to
Blind and Visually Impaired Individuals (2008-2012).
OCTOBER 23
Community Engagement
26 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
orth Carolina Central
University obtained a
five-year, $5 million
grant this year from the
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA). The
money is significant, but not nearly
as important as what the grant means
for hands-on research experiences
for NCCU’s students, and for the
university’s reputation as a scientific
leader.
The grant names NCCU as a member
of the NASA University Research
Centers (URC) and creates a NASA
Center for Aerospace Devices
Research and Education, or NASA-CADRE.
It is one of only about a
dozen NASA centers nationwide.
In science, scholars “can’t just get ex-perience
from a book,” said Branislav
Vlahovic, a physics professor who is
the leader of the push for the NASA
grants and other major federal
awards. The NASA research allows
students to translate their theoretical
work into finished products. “You
have to make something,” Vlahovic
said, “to produce these sophisticated
materials, to see them, to feel them,
to rotate them in your hands.”
NASA & By Paul Brown Jr.
N
Vlahovic, 54, is imposingly tall — six feet, four inches — and
soft-spoken. His crisp attire is at odds with the rumpled physics
professor look often portrayed in movies. Like many scientists,
Vlahovic (pronounced vla-HO-vich) is at his most animated when
talking about protons smashing at high speeds or measuring the
properties of light or the benefits of nanostructures.
The CADRE designation is based largely on research already being
done by NCCU faculty and students. CADRE looks to campus
scientists to help solve sticky problems that could improve NASA’s
exploration of space and mankind’s understanding of the nature of
the universe. The designation places NCCU, usually more noted
for its liberal arts and law education, in an important segment of
research academia. In fact, the NASA center is a collaboration
of some of the nation’s finest scientific and
computational institutions.
Among the NASA-CADRE problems that
Vlahovic’s students and colleagues now will
engage are:
— How to more precisely measure minute
concentrations of certain chemicals through the
use of better biochemical sensors. This could be
helpful in analyzing the atmosphere of Venus,
designing more efficient rocket engines, or
helping authorities determine the extent of the
danger of a chemical attack on an urban subway
system.
— How to better measure the properties of
high-energy gamma rays, which would provide
a deeper understanding of the workings of the
sun, the creation of galaxies and of nuclear
forces in general. NCCU faculty and students
already have invented a measuring device called
a polarimeter that far advances the study of
gamma rays in nuclear physics. The device is in
use at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility in Newport News, Va.
— How to use nanotechnology — the study of the controlling
of matter on an atomic and molecular scale — to design more
efficient photovoltaic cells for powering space vehicles. The cells
convert sunlight into electricity. The ones now used to light and
power the International Space Station are larger than the station
itself. NCCU students and faculty will explore ways to build
smaller, lighter cells that are not only more efficient, but also easier
and cheaper to launch into space.
Seventeen principal investigators from five NCCU departments
will take part in the research. Other CADRE institutions include
Cornell University, Duke University, the Jefferson Accelerator
Facility and NASA’s Goddard, Ames and Glenn research centers.
At NCCU, the research will take place largely in the Physics
Department laboratories in the Mary M. Townes Science Building.
The high-tech labs are a far cry from the single, outdated facility in
which students previously toiled. The Townes building houses six
teaching and research labs, including one that allows students to
design computer programs for problems while they are researching
them. A second lab, scheduled to open by the end of 2010, is a
“clean room” that will allow the production of semiconductors. A
third lab contains a powerful laser.
The CADRE grant will enhance the ability of faculty members to
conduct research and publish their findings. Vlahovic points out
Now Magazine 27
Dr. Branislav Vlahovic is helping to lead NCCU into the future
NCCU
that Physics Department faculty are publishing “about 50 papers a
year in the most prestigious journals in the world,” a high rate for
a department with just five tenure-track and 10 adjunct research
faculty members.
At least as important are the benefits the grant will deliver to
NCCU’s physics students; there now are about 20 undergraduate
physics majors and 18 graduate students. Dr. Charles “Ron” Jones
said the grant boosts “NCCU’s ability to recruit well-qualified
students, and offer those students the opportunity to participate
in research activities at the highest level of excellence.” The NASA
and NSF grants also “come at a time when the master’s degree
program in Physics is relatively new, and they will be extremely
important to the success of that program.”
The two-year-old master’s program graduates its first six students
in May.
The CADRE program allows NCCU students to perform research
in prestigious labs and collaborate with fellow students and faculty
from around the world. They can use Cornell’s electron microscope,
for instance, to delve into the details of nanostructures. Continuing
research using NCCU’s groundbreaking polarimeter will take place
in a new facility being built at the Jefferson Accelerator centered
on the invention itself.
“We designed research projects that have interdisciplinary education
components, based on real-world problems,” said Vlahovic. “And
we apply a philosophy that emphasizes learning gleaned through
experience and active participation in research. Students can gain
an appreciation for the broad base of cognitive knowledge needed
to solve problems and realize the effectiveness of collaborating
with scientists from multiple disciplines.”
The grant also will make it easier for student researchers to
pursue their passion, because it provides about $300,000 a year
in student stipends. “Many [students] are working at Wal-Mart
and McDonald’s in order to support themselves,” said Vlahovic.
“The stipends help them get their independence, not to work but
to focus on study.”
Vlahovic himself received his undergraduate and graduate degrees
in his native Croatia, at Zagreb University. He has a doctorate in
physics and material science and a master’s and post-doctorate in
nuclear physics.
He came to the United States in 1990 to join the Duke physics
faculty. At the time, he and hundreds of scientists around the world
were trying to solve a basic problem in physics: What happens to
a proton-neutron pair when it is smashed by a proton moving at
high speed. The answer helps scientists understand the nature of
nuclear force.
Duke, however, specialized in experimental physics, and Vlahovic
wanted to attack the problem using calculations. He moved in
the 1996-97 academic year to NCCU, where, he said, “I had the
flexibility” to approach the problem by the methods he preferred.
That work led to the creation of a productive computational group
at NCCU, a team that was able to address the physics problem
rigorously, without resorting to approximations. It also led in large
measure to the invention of the new polarimeter.
In 2004, Vlahovic won the O. Max Gardner Award, which
recognizes UNC system faculty members who make great
contributions to human welfare. It is the only statewide honor given
to faculty members by the Board of Governors of the 17-campus
UNC system. He was nominated for his innovative research and
work with minority undergraduate students in the areas of science
and education.
The next year, he was named chairman of the department, and held
the post until early 2009. He stepped down to direct the Center
for Research Excellence in Computational Sciences, which was
formed after he won a $5 million award from the National Sciences
Foundation in Oct. 2008.
The CADRE grant will finance 12 new master’s students and
four additional post-doctorate fellows. All 16 will participate in
teaching and research, he said.
Which presents Vlahovic with another space problem, this one
having nothing to do with exploring the cosmos: All offices in
the department are occupied, so Vlahovic has to find room to
accommodate the additional staff.
28 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Ochije H. Ikechukwu, a graduate student working with Dr. Vlahovic
eceiving $5 million from the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration for a prestigious research
center is great for North Carolina Central University’s
Physics Department. Receiving a front-row seat to
the thundering launch of one of NASA’s space shuttle
flights was another thing altogether for three NCCU
professors.
The three — Branislav Vlahovic and Marvin Wu from the
Physics Department and Alade O. Tokuta from the Math and
Computer Science Department — traveled to the Kennedy Space
Center in November 2009 for a conference on how to administer
a $5 million NASA Center for Aerospace Device Research and
Education (NASA-CADRE) grant. The conference, attended by
representatives of all six U.S. universities with
NASA Research Centers, was an otherwise
routine gathering. But it coincided with the
launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis.
“Watching the shuttle go up reminds you of the
incredible technical challenges NASA faces,
not just to launch the shuttle, but to plan and
execute missions to Mars,” said Wu.
Vlahovic, director of the university’s NASA
center, said the successful launch somewhat
mirrored the CADRE grant. Several distinct
organizations and research efforts are needed
to fling the massive aircraft into orbit.
“You have a lot of groups all over the nation
putting their small pieces together for it to work
smoothly,” he said “You need to kind of think
of a mosaic, each institution having a tiny piece
of the picture.”
Wu said witnessing the liftoff of the 4.5-million-pound
spacecraft is an experience “impressive
on a different order of magnitude.” Guests are seated two miles
from the launch pad. Still, said Vlahovic, “everything vibrates.
You feel the steam. You smell it.”
Atlantis’ mission was to deliver a host of spare parts to the orbiting
International Space Station, and to prepare the station for its final
major addition. The station gets its electrical power from an array
of photovoltaic cells that is larger than the inhabited part of the
station.
Part of NCCU’s CADRE research involves developing
photovoltaic cells that are lighter and more compact, and thus
easier and less expensive to deploy in space.
“You need to kind of
think of a mosaic, each
institution having a tiny
piece of the picture.”
Now Magazine 29
Dr. Wu explains expressed his thoughts about the day of the shuttle launch.
By Paul V. Brown Jr. R
30 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Marching Sound Machine
Gives New Meaning to Heart and Soul By Myra Wooten
Now Magazine 31
ust about anyone can make music, John Philip Sousa once observed. “But
touching the public heart,” he added, “is quite another thing.” For an example
of what the March King meant by that, one need look no further than the
electrifying performance in January by NCCU’s Marching Sound Machine at
the Honda Battle of the Bands in Atlanta. It left no doubt that the band had
thoroughly earned its prized invitation to the 2011 Rose Parade.
The band has had a Cinderella year, including its sixth consecutive appearance at
Honda Battle of the Bands (NCCU is the only school to achieve such a feat) and an
invitation to perform at Women’s Empowerment, the state’s largest entertainment
and educational expo for African-American women. And then there’s the real glass
slipper: the invitation to the Rose Parade next New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif.
J
Not long after becoming band director in
2001, Jorim Reid wrote a 15-year plan that
envisioned a Rose Parade appearance, but he
didn’t intend to even submit an application
until near the end of that period. But the
band drew the eye of Rose Parade officials
who encouraged him to apply. Hundreds
of bands apply each year, but only 16 are
chosen, based on their musicianship,
marching ability and showmanship. For a
marching band, an invitation to Pasadena
is the ultimate recognition, and it offers a
chance to perform before an audience of
millions.
The Rose Parade is part of the Tournament
of Roses, an annual New Year’s celebration
that also includes the Rose Bowl football
game and a variety of special events in the
days leading up to Jan. 1. For the musicians,
the experience includes helping with float
preparation and performing at Bandfest
during the three days prior to New Year’s
Day. It is the opportunity of a lifetime
for band members, but it doesn’t come
cheap. Cost for the band’s participation
is approximately $2,000 per student and
NCCU has begun efforts to raise the
$500,000 needed.
When Reid took over nine years ago, the
band had just 30 members. Today, the
224-member Marching Sound Machine is
one of the largest student organizations
on campus, renowned for its showmanship
and a unique sound that incorporates drum
corps techniques, a pit percussion section,
and large dance and equipment auxiliaries.
The performances are explosive, but what
truly sets the band apart is musicianship,
which Reid emphasizes above all else. “It’s
all about their skill as musicians,” he says.
“We don’t want to blast our audience, but
rather engage them with a high-quality
listening experience.”
“Engage them” would be an understatement,
though, to describe what happened at
the Battle of the Bands at the Georgia
Dome. Carlton Wright, band director at
Minor High School in Birmingham, Ala.,
described the performance this way: “Your
students were by far the best band in the
stadium. Everything about your program
was of the kind of class and quality that all
HBCU programs should strive for.”
For 12 minutes, the Marching Sound
Machine took the crowd of 65,000 on a ride
through time, using the music of Michael
Jackson, and making stops in the ’80s and
’90s. “I knew we had a good show, but you
never know until you perform in front of
people,” said Turquoise Thompson, band
auxiliary captain. “My favorite part was the
auxiliary feature, ‘Poison’ by Bell Biv Devoe,”
she added. “We added a lot of stunts and a
battle of the sexes segment with five guys
from the drum line against the auxiliary
girls. It went back and forward. … You
could say we won, even though we came
together at the end.” The wild ride came to a
32 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
stop with Jay-Z’s “D.O.A (Death of Auto-
Tune),” but not before the band brought the
audience to tears with a powerful tribute to
the Haitian earthquake survivors.
��It was the students’ idea,” said Reid. “A
lot of people were reaching out to help, and
we wanted to do our part.” Band members
selected Michael Jackson’s, “Earth Song”
as their tribute. With its poignant chorus,
“What about us?” the song was the concert
selection, or ballad, of the performance.
“This was the first tragedy of the New Year,”
Thompson said, “and it was so sad. There is
no way you could see that terrible footage
on the news and do nothing.” The tribute
encouraged the audience to support Haiti
as it rebuilds.
The Battle of the Bands appearance was the
fifth and final one for Thompson, coming
just a few months before her graduation
with a degree in public administration. A
well-liked and respected band member,
Thompson understands the universal nature
of music. “Music lets you express yourself
— it speaks every language,” she said. “We
use what we are good at to honor someone
else.”
And the performance has stayed with her.
“Sometimes you wish you could be trapped
in a moment, and that’s how this felt. The
arrangement was beautiful; you could feel
Mr. Reid’s heart and soul in it. It is hard
to imagine that you contributed to that
feeling — amazing,” she said.
For band staff member Bryan Henry, the
friendly competition and excitement are
the heart of the band experience. Henry
is one of seven band staff members that
support the Marching Sound Machine,
carrying equipment and attending all
the practices. A tuba player as well, he
performed at the Battle of the Bands last
year. “It’s the Super Bowl for bands, and I
thank Honda for this experience,” he said. A
mass communication major from Durham,
Henry documented the band’s preparation,
blogging and posting weekly videos, which
he considers great practice for his intended
career as a sports commentator.
Perhaps Thompson sums up this past
year best. “It was all worth it, even the
numb fingertips in January from hours of
practice,” she said. “In the end you know
that you accomplished so much when you
hear the reaction from the audience.”
Now Magazine 33
34 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Although minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are often
grouped together, the differences among them defy simple
characterization. Within the mix of MSIs, historically
black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play a crucial role
in ensuring access and success for black students, and many
of these students are from low-wealth and educationally
disadvantaged backgrounds. As chancellor of the nation’s
first public liberal arts college for African-Americans, I am
convinced that HBCUs have played and must continue to
play a pivotal role in American higher education.
HBCU
Reconstruction
By Charlie Nelms, Chancellor
with assistance from Cynthia Fobert, director of Public Relations
Now Magazine 35
Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
In the two decades from 1984 to 2004, the
minority student population in the United
States grew by 146 percent to about 5
million, one-third of all college students.
But the distribution of these students has
been far from random across the spectrum of
American higher education. An increasing
number of colleges and universities have
been founded as, or transformed into,
minority-serving institutions. MSIs
account for approximately one-third of all
colleges and universities — a total of 1,254
institutions in 2004 — but they enroll
nearly 60 percent, or 3 million, of America’s
minority students.
To be classified as an MSI, a college must
have a minority student body representation
of at least 25 percent. In nearly all MSIs
with a 50 percent or greater minority student
population, there is one dominant ethnic
designation. Hence, we have Hispanic-serving
institutions, predominately black
institutions, tribal colleges and universities,
and Alaska native / native Hawaiian
institutions. Primarily, the growth of MSIs
has been among institutions serving blacks
outside of the HBCUs and those serving
Hispanic students. The number of black-serving,
non-HBCUs more than doubled
and the number of Hispanic-serving
colleges and universities increased more
than six-fold from 1984 to 2004.
The nation’s 103 HBCUs cannot increase
in number, as they are by definition those
colleges established prior to 1964 for the
purpose of educating African-Americans.
But just look at what they accomplish.
Although HBCUs represent approximately
three percent of the higher education
institutions, they enroll 12 percent of all
African-American students and they are
the source for 30 percent of all baccalaureate
degrees; 40 percent of all STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
degrees; and 60 percent of all engineering
degrees awarded to black students. In the
sciences, for black graduates who later
earn a Ph.D., 18 of the top 23 referring
institutions are HBCUs, and two dozen
HBCUs graduate 24 percent of all black
Ph.D. candidates. In addition, HBCUs
produce half of all black teachers and 40
percent of all African-American health
professionals.
Doing More With Less
Certainly, this small group of colleges
continues to serve its historic mission to
enroll and graduate a large proportion of
this traditionally disenfranchised minority.
In so doing, they add substantially to
our nation’s economic development by
contributing to the growth of the African-
American middle class. Furthermore,
HBCUs manage to do all this despite their
low wealth. In my state of North Carolina,
the median endowment among our ten
HBCUs in 2006 was $2,183 per full-time
equivalent student, compared with $17,579
at our state’s non-HBCU institutions.
HBCUs have always had to do more with
much less, but still they are criticized
for their graduation rates. The six-year
graduation rate for African-American
students in 2006 was an admittedly
disappointing 37.9 percent, compared with
45 percent for non-HBCU institutions.
However, the statistical mean obscures the
wide variation among these institutions.
In fact, the variation among HBCUs was
greater than between HBCUs and non-
HBCUs. For example, today, top-ranked
HBCU Spelman College has a graduation
rate of 74 percent, whereas the current
graduation rate of Edward Waters College
is 9 percent. This is not a fair comparison.
Edward Waters’ admissions requirements
include a cumulative GPA of 2.0 and no
minimum ACT or SAT scores. Spelman’s
freshman class has an average GPA of 3.61,
an average ACT of 23 and an average SAT
score of 1078 (out of a possible 1600 —
Critical Reading and Math portions only).
The incoming student at Edward Waters
is much less likely to be prepared for the
rigors of college coursework than the high-achieving
high school graduate entering
Spelman.
36
Now Magazine 37
Furthermore, with an endowment of $350
million, Spelman is much better able to
support its low-income students and thereby
reduce the impact of the major cause of
college withdrawal: insufficient financial
support. Edward Waters is struggling to
cope with $2 million in debt.
At the other end of the spectrum, it is
equally unfair to compare Spelman, ranked
by U.S. News & World Report as the best
HBCU, to Harvard, ranked the best
university in the country. Yes, Harvard
graduates 95 percent of its
African-American students,
but the students it admits are
extraordinarily high performers
to begin with — and once they
arrive on campus, Harvard’s $36
billion endowment ensures that
they get all the support they
need.
The Way Forward
This is not to say that
satisfactory graduation rates can
be achieved only with students
who are fully prepared for
the rigors of university. Arne
Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education,
spoke to the assembled HBCU presidents
and chancellors for the White House
Initiative on Historically Black Colleges
and Universities in September 2009. He
singled out for praise the respectable 51
percent graduation rate achieved by North
Carolina’s Elizabeth City State University.
ECSU admission requirements include
a minimum SAT score of 700 (out of a
possible 1600 — Critical Reading and
Math portions only), an ACT score of 16,
and a GPA of 2.5. Its endowment is less
than $4.5 million and it recruits low-wealth
students from the rural eastern townships
of North Carolina. Duncan attributed
ECSU’s feat to systematically tracking
students’ progress and intervening when
problems arise.
Herein lies the secret to ECSU’s success
and our collective way forward — enabling
systems of accountability. Many HBCUs
lack the capacity to conduct institutional
research, particularly the evaluation of
program effectiveness. This means that
decisions regarding student enrollment
management and retention efforts are
made without good data or adherence
to best practices. What we need are the
assessment protocols, the human and fiscal
resources, and the tools that will allow for
the collection, analysis, and dissemination
of pertinent information about what works
and what does not. Good quality data and
data analysis will positively affect retention,
graduation rates, and policy decisions,
especially those regarding funding.
HBCUs continue to enroll disproportionate
numbers of less wealthy and less-prepared
students, but there has never been a
wholehearted commitment on the part
of the states or the federal government
to their continued existence. A number
of these institutions teeter on the brink
of financial collapse, starved of financial
support. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
was never fully enforced with regard
to equal funding for HBCU facilities,
infrastructure, technology, or human
resources. HBCUs prick the conscience
of the majority, for some, serving to give
rise to feelings of ambivalence, guilt, and
even hostility. However, it seems likely that
changing demographics may overwhelm
these old prejudices as the United States
becomes more diverse. HBCUs have never
discriminated and are poised to become
the best hope for access and success for all
disenfranchised populations, irrespective of
race and ethnicity.
The future of HBCUs will be determined
by their competitiveness, responsiveness,
and relevance. At a minimum, we must do
the following:
• Visionary, experience-based leadership
is crucial. We must recruit and retain the
best.
• We must strengthen our infrastructure,
with regard to technology and facilities,
human and fiscal resources, as well as
internal controls and processes.
• We must reexamine the curriculum to
ensure optimal responsiveness to student
interests and societal needs.
• Each institution must put in place an
outcomes-based program of continuous
improvement focusing on retention and
graduation.
• We must attract and retain
faculty members who are willing
to invest more than the usual time
and talent to help students achieve
their potential. These must be
active researchers who involve
and mentor their students — an
engaged faculty who will facilitate
learning.
• Alumni must embrace
philanthropy and give at whatever
level they can afford. And they
cannot be expected to do so if they
are never asked.
• Public and private funders must commit
to fully underwriting HBCUs as an essential
part of a national strategy to develop
American intellectual capital and sustain
our economy. Local, state and national
governments, corporations, and foundations
must adopt a new national funding strategy
to strengthen HBCU academic programs
and the infrastructure to support them —
an HBCU reconstruction plan, if you will.
I am just one of hundreds of thousands
of HBCU success stories. My test scores
certainly did not suggest that I was
leadership material when I entered the
Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and
Normal College (now the University of
Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1965. Had
it not been for the open access of a low-wealth
HBCU, my life would have been
profoundly different. HBCUs have proven
their worth. Now, we need a revitalized
mission and reinvestment strategy that
recognizes that fact.
Author’s note: North Carolina Central University
will host a symposium titled Setting the Agenda for
Historically Black Colleges and Universities as part
of its Centennial Celebration in June 2 – 4, 2010.
“What we need are the assessment
protocols, the human and fiscal
resources, and the tools that will
allow for the collection, analysis,
and dissemination of pertinent
information about what works and
what does not.”
38 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
BUILDING
THE COMMUNITY By Chantal Winston
orth Carolina Central University is
not only building up campus, but
also building homes in the Durham
community.
“I don’t think it’s accidental or coincidental
that our motto is ‘Truth and Service.’ We are
in search of truth and want to make sure we
offer service to the community that made
it possible for us to exist,” said Chancellor
Charlie Nelms.
In collaboration with Habitat for Humanity
of Durham, NCCU has built its second
Eagle Habitat Home in the Eagle Village
Community. The 1,193-square-foot home,
including three bedrooms, two bathrooms
and a porch, was built for Tijuanda Farrington
and her daughter, Constance.
N
On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January
18, NCCU celebrated with a ground-breaking
ceremony at 615 Hickory St. in
Durham. U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, Durham
Mayor William “Bill” Bell and State Rep.
Larry Hall were in attendance.
The recipient of the home has been
employed in NCCU’s James E. Shepard
Library since 1996. Farrington was born
in Chapel Hill and raised by her late
great-grandparents, Joseph and Frances
Barbee. Her daughter Constance is 14 and
a ninth grader at Northern High School.
Constance is very active in the school
and community, serving as a member of
several organizations including the step
team, Praise and Worship, Teens Against
Consuming Alcohol, and Delta Academy.
“My initial thoughts were, this is surreal,”
Farrington said, recalling when she learned
that she had been chosen. “I was in shock
and couldn’t believe that this was really
happening. I started to tell myself, ‘Oh
my goodness, you’re going to become a
homeowner!’”
There are several homeownership require-ments,
including U.S. citizenship or legal
permanent residency, having lived and/or
worked in Durham for at least six months,
steady employment, and willingness to
devote 250 to 350 hours helping volunteers
build the home.
Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity
International is a nonprofit, ecumenical
Christian housing ministry, seeking to
eliminate poverty and homelessness from
the world and to make decent shelter
a matter of conscience and action. To
accomplish these goals, volunteers build
houses in partnership with families in
need.
Today, Habitat has built over 350,000
houses around the world, providing
more than 1.75 million people in 3,000
communities with safe, decent, affordable
shelter. The Durham Habitat group
completed its first home in 1987. Since
then, it has built more than 200.
Habitat is not a giveaway program.
Recipients must provide a down payment
and monthly mortgage payments. The
monthly payments are used to build future
Habitat houses.
“The NCCU-Habitat partnership began
under the leadership of Dr. James Ammons,
former NCCU chancellor, who served
on the Habitat for Humanity’s Board of
Advisors,” said Mitzi Viola, director of
Development and Community at Habitat
for Humanity — Durham. “NCCU had
the idea, formed a committee and invited
us to talk.”
After two years of fundraising, NCCU
and Habitat completed its first Eagle
Habitat Home for Michelle Nixon and her
daughter, Lyshell Harris, on February 14,
2009. “The community is pretty quiet and
I like my neighbors and the neighborhood
church,” said Nixon.
“With the construction of our second Eagle
Habitat Home, we are now building on a
tradition,” said Ruby Messick, assistant
director of the Academic Community
Service Learning Program at NCCU.
“Our continued involvement in the Eagle
Habitat House Project puts NCCU
students, faculty and staff at the forefront
of helping transform our community —
contributing to the safety and stability
in the neighborhoods surrounding our
campus.”
Eagle Village was the overall name given
to the neighborhoods surrounding the
NCCU campus in 1997 when the Eagle
Village Community Development Corp.
was created. The corporation serves as a
coordinator of efforts by the university, the
city of Durham and other organizations
to improve housing and the quality of
life for the area, and promote economic
development.
An average of 10 to 20 volunteers —
students, faculty and staff — work four-hour
shifts three days per week for about
15 weeks to complete a new Eagle Habitat
Home.
A one-time grant from the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development
provided much of the money to build the
Farrington home, but funds will have to be
raised locally for future Habitat homes. The
university is collecting contributions for a
third Eagle Habitat Home for next year. To
make a gift, visit .
Now Magazine 39
Tijuanda Farrington and her daughter, Constance
40 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Dr. Lorna Harris set ambitious goals
when she came to North Carolina Central
University as chair of the Department of
Nursing in 2005. They included raising
the profile of the nursing program to
encourage funding from UNC General
Administration to support the program’s
growth. Specifically, she wanted to hire
13 fulltime teaching faculty, establish
four tenure-track positions for doctoral-prepared
professors and create an office of
student support.
Five years later, Harris and her department
have exceeded their goals. There are now 21
fulltime members of the teaching faculty,
including seven with doctorates. A student
support staff prepares students for the
working world with interview coaching and
professionalism luncheons. But the growth
does not stop there.
On Feb. 24, NCCU took a huge step toward
even greater nursing excellence by breaking
ground on a $22.5 million, 65,000-square-foot
nursing building. The design includes
facilities for expanded student services,
a 250-seat auditorium, a group of skill
labs and a family room for students with
children.
The skill labs will simulate
a hospital setting, enabling
students to build confidence
and competence as they
learn to use equipment,
practice positioning patients
and carry out nursing
procedures.
“Nursing is a proactive
discipline, and unless you have adequate
time and room to practice, you can’t
learn your craft,” said Harris. The patient
simulation rooms will have programmed,
computerized mannequins that function as
true patients would. “The mannequins have
real medical needs based around real-life
scenarios,” said Harris, “including their life
expectancy.”
The new building will pave the way to
enrollment growth that will not only
continue to increase diversity in the nursing
field but also help address a serious statewide
shortage of nurses. According to the N.C.
Center for Public Policy Research, North
Carolina will face a shortage of 9,000 nurses
in the next five years and 18,000 by 2020.
Last year, 509 students were enrolled in
the NCCU nursing program, up 4 percent
from 2007. This makes NCCU one of the
largest producers of minority baccalaureate
nursing graduates in the state.
Students also have an opportunity to gain
clinical experience in any of 50 different
area agencies. Working with real patients in
area hospitals like Rex, UNC, and Duke as
well as those in Person County and Rocky
Mount complete the training process.
The training is not confined to just
classroom, lab and clinic, though. The
Office of Student Support, run by a
fulltime counselor and a graduate-trained
coordinator, provides pre-nursing
engagement sessions and professionalism
luncheons. “We want our students to come
off as cultured professionals,” Harris said.
“This helps when they go for interviews so
they look and sound as great as they are.”
Last year’s graduates passed the state’s
nursing exam on the first try at a rate of 90
percent, easily exceeding the UNC General
Administration’s minimum rate of 85
percent for first-time test takers. “We are
excited to have outstanding students here,”
said Harris, “and we work hard to give them
the attention and education they deserve.”
From 2006 to 2008, the NCCU nursing
program had an 84 percent
on-time graduation rate,
one of the highest among
four-year institutions in
North Carolina.
An expanding array of
nursing educational op-tions
is helping NCCU
recruit and retain new
students. The Department
of Nursing recently estab-lished
an RN-BSN On-Line Hybrid
program, which leads to a Bachelor of
Science in Nursing (BSN) degree for
students who already have the Registered
Nurse credential. And a new Accelerated
Second Degree BSN program allows
Exceeding
Expectations
By Myra Wooten
“Nursing is a proactive discipline,
and unless you have adequate time
and room to practice, you can’t
learn your craft,” said Harris.
An artist’s rendering of the future NCCU Nursing building
41
students to earn their degree in 16 months
instead of the traditional 24.
The online program works with five
community colleges, such as Halifax
Community College in eastern North
Carolina, and area hospitals to recruit
students. The most recent recruiting effort
identified 102 nurses interested in the
program.
Dr. Jennie De Gagne, distance education
coordinator, oversees the online program.
“Students who come into this program are
already licensed nursing professionals with
careers,” she said. “It is difficult for this
population to come to a brick-and-mortar
class, so we are reaching out to adult learners.
Online teaching and learning is the future,
and we need to support the faculty in order
to be effective in this method of teaching.”
Six students in the inaugural class of the
accelerated second-degree program are
now in their last semester of nursing.
The program, which starts each January,
admitted 21 students in early 2010, the
maximum the program can support, and
now has a wait list for January 2011. “These
are people who finished college somewhere
else, or have degrees outside of nursing,”
said Harris.
Another important nursing initiative is
the HBCU Health Promotion Alliance,
which involves NCCU and three other
universities, N.C. A&T State, Fayetteville
State and Elizabeth City State. It focuses
on addressing cultural differences in access
to health education and health care. The
Alliance has brought in $2.5 million for
community-based research and services and
has established the NCCU / N.C. Breast
and Cervical Cancer Control Partnership.
The partnership is developing a curriculum
to educate nursing students and practicing
nurses on basic information on prevention
of breast and cervical cancer. Darlene Street
and Adrian Heath serve as staff for the
program and hope the model will be used
by other nursing schools.
Harris remains ambitious in her vision for
the nursing department. The immediate
goals, she said, are to “get the building up
by fall 2011 and increase the number of
students in the upper division to 250 to
match the size of the new building.” Long-term,
Harris would like to see a master’s
nursing program. “The faculty has worked
hard, the students have worked hard and
after four years we are starting to see the
fruits of our labor — good nurses who
understand the culture of North Carolina
and the need to be ahead of the curve when
it comes to nursing knowledge.”
Now Magazine
Last year’s graduates passed
the state’s nursing exam on the
first try at a rate of 90 percent,
easily exceeding the UNC
General Administration’s
minimum rate of 85 percent
for first-time test takers.
42 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Those were the days when students did not go and
come freely the way they do now. To leave the campus
you had to have permission. Dean Rush — I don’t
remember her first name — was the one with the
power. She said when you go and when you come.
We attended vespers service on Sunday afternoon,
and that was mandatory. You had a special seat in
B.N. Duke Auditorium. Dean Rush would walk the
aisle and check the seats. She knew who was present
and who was absent, and you’d better not be absent.
I don’t remember what would happen (if a student
was absent.) I was never absent — not without
permission at least.
Vivian Hunter, ’43 B.S., Commerce
LookingBack
Now Magazine 43
ClassNotes
Promotions and
Appointments
Harvey Heartley Sr. (B.S.),
of Raleigh, was inducted into
the CIAA John B. McLendon
Hall of Fame.
Samuel “Sam” Jones (B.S.),
of St. Augustine, Fla., was
honored with the Lifetime
Achievement Award by the National Black
College Alumni Hall of Fame Foundation.
Ernie Barnes (B.A.), of
West Hollywood, Calif.,
was inducted posthumously
into the National Black College Alumni
Hall of Fame Foundation for his stellar
contribution to the arts.
James Fullwood (B.S.), of
Raleigh, was honored in 2009
at Cape Fear Community
College for his life and work in the
Probation and Parole program in North
Carolina.
Andre’ Leon Talley, of New York City, will
be the fourth judge on the upcoming season
in 2010 of the popular show “America’s
Next Top Model with Tyra Banks.”
Roger McLean (B.S.) is the
mayor of Elizabeth City, N.C.
Gwen Willis (B.A. and M.A.), of
Greensboro, has been named chief of
student services for Guilford County
Schools.
Dorothy Brower (B.S.), of
Southern Pines, N.C., has
been honored by the Durham
Tech Foundation for her 35 years of
service at Durham Technical Community
College with the naming of a scholarship
in her honor. The first Dorothy A. Brower
Scholarship for high school graduates of
Moore, Orange and Durham County high
schools will be awarded in the fall of 2010.
Dr. Pocahontas Jones (B.S.),
of Henrico, N.C., was named
chief academic officer and
dean of curriculum programs at Roanoke
Chowan Community College in Ahoskie,
N.C.
Elmira Mangum (B.S.), of
Carrboro, has joined the staff
of Cornell University as vice
president for budget and planning.
William Smith (B.A.), of Durham, joined
the staff of Elizabeth City State University
as vice chancellor for institutional
advancement.
James “Jim” Holland (MBA),
of Richmond, Va., has been
elected vice chairman of the
Chesterfield County, Virginia, Board of
Supervisors.
Dr. Joan Koonce (B.S.), of Athens, Ga.,
released a new book, Integrity in a Box of
Chocolates: Consuming Life’s Hardships One
Bite at a Time. The book opens on the
stage of The Ohio State University, where
Koonce accepted her third college degree.
She shared her story and led a discussion
about her book at Borders Books in Athens
in February. She is an associate professor
at the University of Georgia’s College of
Family and Consumer Sciences.
Dr. William J. Barber II
(B.A.), pastor of Greenleaf
Christian Church in
Goldsboro and president of the North
Carolina NAACP, received the Human
Rights Medalist Award from N.C. A&T
State University in recognition of his efforts
to correct social injustice.
Warachel Faison, M.D (B.S.) of
Summerville, S.C., was recognized during
B l a c k H i s t o r y Mon t h a s o n e o f
four African-American champions of
Alzheimer’s disease by the National
Alzheimer’s Association. A geriatric
psychiatrist, she has furthered research
for prevention and a cure; made strides
in care and support; and raised awareness
of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Faison serves
as a medical director in Neuroscience
Primary Care at Pfizer Inc. An advocate of
community education and active discussion,
she participated in the Alzheimer’s
Association Diversity Dialogue at the
Alzheimer’s Action Summit in Washington
in March.
Dr. Sharon Elliott-Bynum
(BSN), of Durham, was
honored with the 2010
NCCU Nursing Distinguished Alumni
Award at the 14th Annual Helen S. Miller
Lectureship & Luncheon for Nursing.
Shinika McKiever (MPA)
was named the first program
associate and fellow at the
Kate B. Reynolds Charitable
Trust in Winston-Salem. The two-year
fellowship will provide a broad range of
experiences in philanthropy.
Trudy Mathis Jarman, of Jacksonville,
N.C., who studied psychology at NCCU,
is working on the third installment to
her self-published “Braids” novels, which
chronicle the lives of three families from
different backgrounds on the fictional
plantation of Quinnton Meadows in 1937
North Carolina. In 1999, Jarman was
recognized on the nationally syndicated
Tom Joyner radio show as a “Thursday
Morning Mom” for dedicating eight years
as the sole caretaker of her aunt who was
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
’55
’57
’60
’70
’71
’73
’75
’77
’83
’85
’93
’07
By Anita B. Walton
44 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
’30s Carson H. Beckwith (B.S. ’33), of
Charlotte, Sept. 9, 2009. Beckwith worked
at Bands Beauty College.
’40s Donald Murphy (B.A. ’46, J.D. ’73), of
Greensboro, Nov. 20, 2009. Murphy was an
attorney.
Carl S. Galbreath (BSC ’49), of Fayetteville,
Dec. 16, 2009. Galbreath worked at 71st
High School.
’50s McKinley J.H. Armstrong (B.A. ’51),
of Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2010.
Armstrong led the basketball team at
McKinley Tech to dominance.
Greta A. Avent (B.A. ’53), of Raleigh, Feb.
10, 2010. Avent worked for the Wake
County Public Schools.
Margaret B. Pollard (B.S. ’54), of Moncure,
N.C., Sept. 29, 2009. Pollard worked at the
Wake Area Health Education Center.
Marcus Ingram (B.S.C. ’58), of Durham,
Jan. 28, 2010. Ingram was a long-time
professor in the School of Business at
NCCU.
’60s Leonard Deshield (B.A. ’61), of
Greensboro, Nov. 6, 2009. DeShield was
the chief of protocol of the Republic of
Liberia.
Marvin E. Duncan, Ph.D. (B.A. and
M.A., ’62 & ’63), of Durham, Jan. 24, 2010.
Duncan was a professor in the School of
Education at North Carolina Central
University.
Carlton E. Fellers (B.S.C. ’63), of Raleigh,
Dec. 4, 2009. Fellers was an attorney at
Thigpen, Blue, Stephen Fellers.
Anne H. Streeter (’63), of Washington,
D.C., Oct. 12, 2009. Streeter worked at the
National Coalition Building Institute.
Betty D. Ruffin (’65), of Durham, Nov. 9,
2009. Ruffin retired from the Golden Belt
Manufacturing Co.
’70s Jasper Harris (B.A. ’70), of Durham, Oct.
7, 2009. Harris was co-chair of the NCCU
Department of Environmental, Earth and
Geospacial Sciences and the director of the
Summer Ventures Program at NCCU.
Kenneth “Ken” L. Clemons (B.A. ’71),
of Durham, Dec. 13, 2009. Clemons was
employed by Durham Public Schools as
an education specialist and coordinator of
cable services.
Gweneth Russell Harrelson (’72), of
Greensboro, Nov. 30, 2009. Harrelson
served for 29 years at Central North
Carolina School for the Deaf.
Annie O. Newsome (M.A. ’72), of
Goldsboro, N.C., Jan. 20, 2010. Newsome
worked at Goldsboro Junior High School.
Constance Roberson (’72 & ’82 (B.A.)
of Durham, NC, Sept. 6, 2009. Roberson
was director of student activities and the
student union at NCCU.
Johnnie Mack Arrington (B.A. ’74), of
Durham, Dec. 18, 2009. Arrington was an
employee at C R England, Inc.
Howard C. McGlohon (J.D. ’76), of
Asheville, Feb. 10, 2010. McGlohon
worked at Broughton Hospital before
starting his own practice.
Elson Armstrong (B.A. ’77), of Charlotte,
March 5, 2010.
Stanley A. Richardson (B.S.C. ’78), of
Elizabethtown, N.C., March 10, 2010.
Richardson worked at Public Instruction/
Board of Education, Bladen County
Shelton L. White (B.A. ’79), of Durham,
Dec. 10, 2009. White worked at Duke
University.
’80s Earl Whitted, Jr. (B.A. ’81, J.D. ’84), of
Wayne County, N.C., Jan. 4, 2010. Whitted
was a former member of the City Council
and Board of Aldermen.
Harold R. Hoke (J.D. ’84) of New
London, N.C., Sept. 29, 2009. Hoke was
an attorney.
Kenneth R. Diggins (B.B.A. ’85), of
Raleigh, Feb. 4, 2010. Diggins was the
owner of East Coast Promotional Products,
a partner with Faucon Blu Marketing
Communications.
Regina M. Crooms (B.A. ’87), of Raleigh,
Nov. 2, 2009. Crooms worked at Burroughs
Wellcome (now part of GlaxoSmithKline).
Minora V. Sharpe (B.A. ’89), of State
College, Pa., March 2, 2010.
’90s Joel Natalie Owens (B.S. ’94), of Durham,
Dec. 15, 2009. Owens was pursuing a
second degree.
Paul L. Suggs (’94), of Fayetteville, Jan. 8,
2010. Suggs was a former SGA president
at NCCU.
’00s Cassandra J. Freeman (B.A. ’08), of
Durham, Dec. 2, 2009.
Unknown Grad Year Ida Gadsden, of Savannah, Ga., Nov. 26,
2009
Christopher M. Hensley, of Raleigh, Dec.
1, 2009
George B. Parks of Bakersfield, Calif., Jan.
5, 2010. Parks owned Parks & Associates.
In Memoriam
Now Magazine 45
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Return this form with your news or story idea to the following address: North Carolina Central University
Office of Alumni Relations Toll Free: 866-479-2721
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Durham, NC 27707 Email: publicrelations@nccu.edu
46 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Gifts
to the University
LEROI MOORE FUND WILL PROVIDE 4
ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS
By Brian Culbreath
A trust set up by musician LeRoi H. Moore before his death
will provide $5,000 scholarships for four North Carolina Central
University students each year in perpetuity.
A founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, Moore played
all the saxophones from bass to soprano, as well as flute, bass
clarinet, pennywhistle and oboe. Credited with arranging much
of the Dave Matthews Band’s music, he traversed jazz, funk, rock
and classical styles to make what Matthews characterized as “the
most astonishingly honest music.”
Born in Durham and raised in the Charlottesville, Va., area,
Moore died in 2008 from injuries suffered in an ATV accident at
his farm near Charlottesville. He was 46 years old. The NCCU
scholarships are in honor of his parents, both NCCU alumni,
Roxie Holloway Moore (’50) and Albert P. Moore (’56).
The scholarships will start in 2010 with a single $5,000 gift and
will increase annually by $5,000 until reaching a total annual
$20,000 payout in 2013. When fully funded, the scholarships
will be awarded to one student in each of the first, second, third,
and fourth-year classes. Criteria for selection will be students
with a financial need, and those whose studies are focused in
business, education, or music. Consideration also will be given
to the student’s community service involvement.
As a young man in Charlottesville, Moore established a
reputation as an accomplished jazz musician, co-founding the
Charlottesville Swing Orchestra and the John D’earth Quintet.
In 1991, he and childhood friend Carter Beauford joined up
with Dave Matthews and, subsequently, Stefan Lessard and
Boyd Tinsley, to form the Dave Matthews Band. The band
dedicated its latest album, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux
King,” to Moore.
Moore was active in many philanthropic activities throughout
his life, and the trust he established ensures that his support of
his favored organizations will continue. In addition to NCCU,
scholarship programs have been established in his name at
Albemarle High School in Virginia and at the University of
Virginia School of Nursing. Moore’s fund will also make annual
contributions to Toys for Tots, Habitat for Humanity, the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Blue Ridge Area
Food Bank.
“LeRoi was one of the most generous people I have ever met,
although he was very private about it,” said Rit Venerus, trustee
of Moore’s estate. “It is great to see that his legacy of giving will
live on.”
Now Magazine 47
NORTH CAROLINA MUTUAL GIVES ITS
HISTORIC ARCHIVES TO NCCU / DUKE
By Dr. Kimberly Moore, Public Relations and External Affairs
for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., the nation’s largest
and oldest life insurance company with roots in the African-
American community, transferred its collection of historic
archives to North Carolina Central University and Duke
University in a ceremony on September 25, 2009. The collection
highlights the historic role the company has played in Durham
and nationally in African-American commerce.
The documents will be housed in Duke’s Library Service Center,
an off-site location that serves both universities. The collection
will be referred to as “The North Carolina Mutual Collection.”
The collection includes thousands of business documents,
newsletters, commercials and photographs, as well as books
written about the company and its founders. It also contains
historical information about the families of two company
founders, John Merrick and Dr. Aaron M. Moore, as well as
trailblazer and corporate icon Charles C. Spaulding.
The collection will be administered jointly by the NCCU
Archives, Records and History Center and the Duke University
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library in
conjunction with the John Hope Franklin Research Center for
African and African American History and Culture.
“Thanks to the diligence, attention to detail and dedication of
employees for more than a century, North Carolina Mutual’s
history has been exceptionally well documented and preserved,”
said James H. Speed Jr., president and CEO of the company.
“Our board of directors felt the archives should be where
they can best be maintained and preserved. North Carolina
Central University and Duke University have the facilities and
the professional personnel to continue a tradition of historic
preservation that began in 1898.”
Historical connections between N.C. Mutual, NCCU and Duke
make this archive arrangement particularly significant. Dr. James
E. Shepard, who founded NCCU in 1909, was also one of the
seven men who founded the insurance company 11 years earlier.
John Merrick, another N.C. Mutual founder, worked closely
with Benjamin Duke, whose family established Duke University.
In 1966, Duke University donated the land for N.C. Mutual’s
headquarters building. In the first half of the 20th Century,
N.C. Mutual was one of the financial institutions clustered in
downtown Durham that made Parrish Street famous as “the
Black Wall Street.”
Today, N.C. Mutual offers a wide array of insurance products,
including life, health and dental coverage through group plans
for large and small organizations. It has more than 300,000
individual policyholders and more than $7.7 billion of insurance
in force.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT GIFTS TO THE
UNIVERSITY
Curtis Lee Dobbs Memorial Endowment Fund
Robert L. Dobbs (’60) established the fund in honor of his son,
who was a freshman at Hunter College in New York when he
died in 1985 at the age of 18. The $50,000 fund will provide
scholarship support to sophomores, juniors, or seniors who are
track and field athletes and who have maintained a grade-point
average of 3.0 or better.
Averner Blue Jr. Memorial Endowed Scholarship
Fund
An anonymous donor has given $25,000 to the fund to
provide scholarship support to males enrolled in the College of
Behavioral and Social Sciences with a major in criminal justice.
Distinguished Nursing Professorship
The C.D. Spangler Foundation and the UNC General
Administration have each committed $250,000 to endow a
Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Nursing.
A. Nan Freeland Endowed Scholarship Fund
The N.C. Environmental Justice Network and the N.C.
Conservation Network pledged $25,000 to establish the A. Nan
Freeland Endowed Scholarship Fund to provide support for
undergraduates with financial need. The recipients will be rising
juniors or seniors majoring in environmental science.
Xerox Corp. Foundation
Xerox contributed $20,000 to support student scholarships.
The company has now given $110,000 to the university for
scholarships since 2005.
SunTrust Bank
The bank has committed to provide $20,000 to sponsor a lecture
series at the School of Business. The sponsorship will give the
university and the School of Business the ability to present
distinguished and national and international lecturers, exposing
our students to a world beyond the textbooks.
Estate Gifts
The estate of Winnie Cornelia T. Robinson established the
Leonard Harrison Robinson Fund in memory of Mrs. Robinson’s
late husband, to compensate distinguished speakers in sociology.
The estate of Clifton E. Johnson established a gift to the NCCU
School of Law.
48 Centennial Edition, Summer 2010
Donor Honor Roll
The James E. Shepard Society
recognizes NCCU’s most loyal
donors. Membership in the
James